


The Merciless Current (dragging you down and down and down)

by Pleasedial123



Series: Dark Waters [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Sakura, But he's not evil, Dark, Kiri Politics, Mean Zabuza, Sakura really needs a hug, Stubborn Sakura, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, good Haku, hurt sakura, threats of underage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:48:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25633813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pleasedial123/pseuds/Pleasedial123
Summary: Haruno Sakura is adrift, pulled by currents she could never have imagined. Momochi Zabuza saved her from Gato and his thugs, but he may have plunged her into something worse; the Bloody Mist.AU ending of The Ocean is Dark and Deep. Must read before this one or it won't make sense. Diverges after Chapter 10.
Series: Dark Waters [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773646
Comments: 688
Kudos: 1353





	1. The Drag of the Waves

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU ending my story 'The Ocean is Dark and Deep'. It diverges at Chapter 10 of it. So please go read (or reread) that first. Enjoy.

When Sakura woke up she knew something was wrong. Or, maybe not wrong, but something had happened. Zabuza and Haku were both missing and she hadn’t even heard them leave. She waited in the room for them to return, leery of if they had been ordered away. She kept her eyes and ears trained on the door and the hall beyond that. 

She could hear noise throughout the manor. Heard men laughing and moving, the clink of swords. When she risked a glance out the window she saw people moving in groups. It looked like the manor was coming to life, buzzing as people gathered and got ready for something big. When those footsteps drew closer to the door and didn’t sound like Zabuza, Sakura shoved herself under the bed, fingers twisting together ready to cast a genjutsu. But no one burst in, instead there was a sharp knocking. A pause. More knocking. 

“Hey Momichi! Gato-sama wants you in his office!” someone shouted before wandering away. 

Sakura stared at the door and waited. In the distance there was still the noise of multiple people moving about, but it was fading ever so slowly. When the whole manor was silent, Sakura pulled herself from under the bed and hovered near the window. It faced away from the docks but she could see boats cut across her limited view for a bit until even they petered away. 

When Zabuza returned he came in though the window, Sakura shuffling back to the bed when she’d seen him approaching via ocean walk. She knew something had happened by the look on his face. His pants were wet up to his knee as if had waded into the water despite having approached from over the waves. He didn’t acknowledge Sakura at all, not even a glance as he scowled into the distance. Haku was on his heels and while Haku also looked a touch distracted, the young man had the attention to aim a smile at Sakura to reassure her everything was okay.

“Change of plans,” Zabuza told Haku, “We’re cutting our losses and moving out.”

Sakura stiffened, pushing her back into the bed.

“Not you brat,” Zabuza said catching her flinch.

Sakura wanted to relax but the way Haku was smiling eerily put her on edge; he looked far too pleased. When both men made for the hall, Sakura quickly followed. Haku gave her another distracted smile and then offered her something. Sakura stared at the small weapon’s pouch and darted a glance up at Haku’s smiling face. She took it slowly, carefully like it was a trick. Judging by the weight it was stocked. Haku gave her one last smile and then turned back around to follow Zabuza. Sakura trotted after them, tying the new pouch onto her belt and mind whirling. 

They’d given her weapons. Given her weapons and said cut their loses and Haku was smiling pleased as punch.

Sakura was vibrating by the time they made it to Gato’s office, her fingers twitching and something like anticipation bubbling in her gut. Zabuza strode into the office like he owned it and then paused. Sakura peeked around the doorframe and found the usual office empty.

“They’re outside near the dock,” Haku said looking out the window.

Zabuza’s eyes narrowed and he turned on his heel, heading for the doors. Sakura followed him down the hall and out the front. As they strode across the yard towards the dock Sakura twitched as she realized about twenty thugs stood around Gato, looking like they were relaxed and carefree even though every single one was armed. Gato didn’t seem at all surprised to see Zabuza striding towards him. Yoshiro stood at the business man’s shoulder and his eyes found Sakura immediately. She let her gaze slide off his smirking face to pretend he wasn’t there as she watched Gato and Zabuza face off. 

“You’re late,” Gato sneered, “I summoned you over two hours ago.”

“Had some business to attend to,” Zabuza said,

“Business,” Gato scoffed, “Whatever it was, you’re not going to like the consequences for being late to this meeting.”

“Oh?” Zabuza asked.

Sakura stared at him, aware of how relaxed Zabuza looked suddenly. He had been gruff and rough and mean the whole time, posture always dangerous. And now, now his shoulders were rolled back and he seemed like he was enjoying himself. 

“You’re fired,” Gato smirked.

“Ah. Well that works,” Zabuza said, “Since I came to turn in my resignation anyways.”

For a moment there was silence as Gato seemed to try and realize his ‘consequences’ hadn’t worked out. 

“We’ll take what you owe us and get out of this shithole,” Zabuza continued.

“I don’t owe you anything,” Gato said immediately, nasty smirk back.

“You owe us at least three quarters of our contract,” Zabuza shot back, “We didn’t destroy the bridge, but we followed every other clause. If you want us to destroy the bridge and the builder on our way out I’ll need the full amount.”

Gato was smirking at them, face pleased, and it was not as pretty as an expression as Haku’s. 

“I don’t think you understand,” Gato said, “You’re fired because I dealt with the bridge and the builder. And that team that gave you so much trouble.”

Sakura froze.

“Really?” Zabuza asked, and Sakura could hear the scepticism in his voice, “And who did you get to kill the Konoha team?”

“My men are enough to kill a pathetic group of kids and their teacher,” Gato sneered.

“You got Hatake’s head then?” Zabuza asked as Sakura flinched.

“My men left two hours ago when you were supposed to,” Gato said, “They’ll be back soon with it.”

“Ah. So you haven’t heard back from them yet,” Zabuza said.

Sakura tried to relax. Kakashi would be able to handle a few civilian thugs.

“I sent thirty men under Yuu, who’s one of my best,” Gato actually rolled his eyes, “They’ll bring me their heads. And as for your payment, well I don’t intend to pay you.”

“Firing me a day before our contract was complete and then refusing to pay me for any of my time. Don’t tell me you plan to kill me,” Zabuza said flatly.

Every single thug rose to their feet, weapons in hand and nasty smirks on their lips. Yoshiro drew his sword at Gato’s shoulder.

Sakura stared at them. What the hell? She looked back at a rather smug Zabuza, at Haku smiling ever so pleased. She looked back at the idiot civilians. Were they really challenge an A-class missing-nin? One that had backup? Were they insane?

“Hey brat,” Zabuza said as the air grew tense, “Gato took all the time to help train you up. Think we should show him how good of a hunting bitch you are now?”

“Yes,” Sakura said faintly, her voice coming from really far away as her attention narrowed. 

“Show me your teeth then, brat.”

Sakura bared her teeth in what could loosely be called a grin.

“Ha! Good. You and Haku are up then.”

“Kill them,” Gato snapped, an order.

The thugs surged forwards like a wave, noise rising as they gave a sort of war cheer. Zabuza took a step back and Haku was practically a blur as he leapt forwards. The thugs, all looking anticipatory of a kill, barely paid Sakura any mind. Their eyes were trained on Zabuza or Haku. Sakura disabused them of the idea that she was forgettable.

The first two shuriken in her pouch slotted in her fingers and she barely gave it a thought before she let them fly. Two men fell, choking on metal and blood and the sound of their bodies hitting the ground was silent. Sakura didn’t even pause, leaping over the next man.

Sakura had been at the top of her class in the academy, competing against clan kids. The academy had weighed book smarts and actual skills rather equally and while Sakura was a very bright girl she had had to work for her skills. She was slower than most of her classmates and lacked stamina. She’d made up for these with perfect accuracy; her ability to calculate trajectory only outdone by Shikamaru and her natural strength helping drive the blades. Her katas were crisp and neat, perhaps not the smoothest or most graceful, but she had a grasp on them. Her strength helped her where her speed was lacking.

Sakura came down on a man’s shoulders, feet hitting them hard enough to cause him to start to fall. A kunai arched in her hands and then it was in his throat. She rode the body to the ground. 

Sakura had been a good student. She’d gotten top marks, worked hard to make up for areas she didn’t do as well in. And an academy graduated genin could beat a civilian thug any day of the week if they approached it properly. Or approached it as it were, seething with a tsunami or repressed rage and fear and hate. 

A man tried to gut her as she pulled her kunai free but she ducked the sloppy blow and came up spinning, her kunai disembowelling the man who screamed and dropped his sword as he tried to hold his organs in.

Sakura had lost to Gato’s men those few long weeks ago, had been brought down by five civilian thugs because of a number of things. The main one had been panic. She’d been caught off guard by the ambush and then further panicked by getting separated from her team. Fighting was easy enough, it was fighting people that was hard. Sakura was used to spars with academy students, but those were all non-lethal, and sometimes not even violent. They were all too smooth. It was very different fighting grown men who fought dirty. It was also very different to plant a fist in a man’s side and feel his ribs crack in a way none of her classmates would have suffered. It was different to fight against sneering snarling faces and threats of what was to be done with her as they ripped at hair.

Haku’s senbon lodged in a man’s eye, his sword still raised to slice Sakura in two as he fell. Sakura passed the corpse and went spinning at a new target, her feet already launching her into a spinning round kick of the Falling Leaf style. She hit him in the neck with her heel hard enough she snapped it. The sound of breaking bone was loud in her ears.

Sakura had been top of her class in the academy, was leagues above a single civilian thug. But panic had caught her off guard. She’d been unbloodied and her first real fight made her falter. She could have won a physical fight but had not been able to get beyond the psychological hurdles of such a fight. Sakura would summarize her capture as stupid; Sakura had been stupid. If she’d been a bit more composed, a bit less hesitant in dealing real damage, none of this would have happened. It was a lesson on being sure. Sure of yourself, of your skills, and sure of your attack. Don’t falter, don’t hesitate.

Three shuriken went flying through the air and two men dropped, one dead before he hit the ground, the other screaming bloody murder. She ended his screams with thrust of her palm that broke his nose and sent splinters up into his brain. 

Sakura had suffered these past three weeks due to fucking stupidity. That it was her own made it so much worse. She’d been collared, called a bitch, made to fucking beg. And her rape and death had been held above her head like an executioner’s axe. Sakura was fucking sick of it. Sick of this whole goddamn place. 

Her kunai stabbed into a man’s throat so violently it nearly went all the way through. Blood splashed hot across her face and Sakura snarled like the dog they’d treated her as. 

Sakura had felt terror straight down to her bone. Had been doused in blood and horror. She’d trembled so much she could scarce remember having still hands. She was running on entirely too little panicked sleep, had felt hunger since the moment she’d passed these doors. She rarely didn’t have blood flaking off her skin. Her dress had been destroyed, her hair cut off, and her goddamn free will stripped away. 

A man came at her, his face terrified and his hands shaking. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere else but was unwilling to try his hand with Haku or Zabuza; Sakura was the weak link but she wasn’t that weak. She bared her teeth at him met him head-on. Her kunai cut through his skin like a hot knife through butter even as her second kunai deflected his blade. 

Sakura was done being fucking terrified. It had been pulled out of her like you pulled out teeth. And now she was practically frothing with the injustice of it all, with the rage. Every single one of these men had laughed at her, taunted her, snickered over the idea of her getting fucking raped into compliance. They all knew she’d never be allowed to leave this rock, that she’d be used until she was used up and then her body dumped in a ditch. They’d done this to her and to other people and slept soundly at night.

Sakura caught a man as he tried to run. He was turning on his heel, running for the dock. Her fingers grabbed him by his hair, just the way she knew hurt, and she twisted as she knocked his legs out. He hit the ground and she caught sight of scared blue eyes and then her kunai was buried in his head. She dropped the corpse.

Sakura wasn’t calm or collected, but she wasn’t terrified anymore. And she was still shaking but that was just the rage. She clenched her teeth, bared them, like a snarling dog. She was like those dog’s down in the pit. She’d been kicked once too many, pushed into reaction one too many times, and now she wasn’t just turning where she was pointed; now she was turning on men who tried to make her do what they wanted. 

Sakura turned to look at the killing field and found Haku neatly dispatching the last thug. He looked like a bird, something elegant and beautiful as he flowed through the air and came down on his prey like a raptor. He landed as softly as falling snow, and looked as pure as it, not a single drop of blood on him as he stood over a corpse. He looked back at Sakura with that pleased smile again. 

Sakura looked to Zabuza next and found him glancing at her, eyes following the blood splatter like freckles across her face and the blood that drenched her front and feet. He smiled. Sakura wasn’t capable of a smile right now so she bared her teeth again. 

Only two more men were alive. Gato standing amidst the death with such a stunned horrified look on his face it was almost comical. 

“You’re going to pay for this!” Gato screamed in a desperate sort of anger, but they all ignored him and his cowering.

Sakura instead looked to the last thug left alive. Yoshiro was clutching his broken wrist and starting to look cornered as he tried to put some distance between himself and Zabuza. It was easy to see the fool had picked the wrong opponent and the only reason Zabuza had left him alive was because he obviously had a plan for him. The sound of chain links shifting was loud to Sakura’s ears and she flinched a glance over to Zabuza. 

“You’re up,” Zabuza grinned at her, “Two more pieces of trash for you to get rid of.”

Sakura took her chain slowly, the metal links cool against her skin. She took one more look at Zabuza who merely grinned still, like he was enjoying the show. Haku alighted at his side, hands folded in front of him politely as he gave Sakura a crinkle-eyed encouraging smile. 

Sakura took a deep breath, well aware of Zabuza and Haku’s attention on her. Well aware of Yoshiro’s cowering, of Gato’s desperate anger. She took another breath, chest still swelled with rage. She looped the ends of the chain around one fist and looked at the two men who were responsible for the majority of her fear and pain. Yoshiro and the threat he represented and promised with every look. Gato and this entire fucking situation. 

Yoshiro was recovering from his momentary fear and was lunging for his sword again. Sakura was in front of him in an instant and she punched him in the chest with the chain wrapped around her fist. She felt more than heard his ribs break and he howled with the pain, hitting the ground. Sakura left him for the moment and turned towards where Gato was rapidly stepping backwards. Gato was screaming something, threats or pleas, but she was deaf to them. 

Sakura looked up at Zabuza and the grin he offered was all the answer she needed. Sakura lunged for Gato, batted his weak hands away and spun behind him. She planted her knee in Gato’s back and grabbed his hair, forcing him to his knees and making him arch back. She pulled his head back despite how he fought and brought her kunai up. The cut she pulled across his throat was deep and done with steadier hands than she’d had in weeks. She held onto him as she felt him gurgle and twitch. When the last of his life fled, Sakura dropped him. 

She stared at the corpse for a moment and wondered how she felt about it. Gato who had caused her so much pain, who’d caused this whole country’s pain. Just some fucking filth in a suit with a sneer and more money than real power. She’d pinned him down in an instant and slit his throat easier than breathing. There was this burning satisfaction somewhere in her heart and Sakura felt herself smile. 

Maybe this whole place had fucked her up.

Yoshiro was back on his feet, hacking in obvious pain and she moved towards him as if in a haze. It didn’t quite feel real and the satisfaction mixing with the injustice and rage was making her feel sky high. The rage still frothed in her but her hands were steady. Yoshiro saw her coming and his face, for once not looking like her nightmares, showed how scared he was. He tried to lunge to the left for a blade, for the dock, for something and Sakura met him. She kicked his knees out and watched him start to fall. The chain clinked like glass as she threw it out in an arch. She dropped her kunai and caught the other end of the chain with her free hand. It looped almost poetically in the air. 

Sakura pulled the chain tight, giving it a twist like Iruka-sensei had showed them how to with ninja wire. Then she planted a foot in the small of his back and _pulled_.

“When I’m done with you,” Sakura said breathlessly, “You’ll be ruined for any other.”

He struggled, jerking in her hold but Sakura held tight, pulling the chain so tight he couldn’t even get out a gasp. She held on tightly even as he twitched and slowed, movements growing sluggish. It was less than ten seconds until he went limp. She held on for a minute longer.

When she finally let go her body nearly rebelled, wanting to keep pulling, keep applying pleasure. Keep killing him. It was more work to make herself relax, to let the chain dip loose, than it had been to fight. The rage that had been boiling and frothing inside of her started to evaporate like water vapour. Satisfaction curled close to her heart now and Sakura thought she might be able to breath freely now. 

Sakura flinched hard as a hand landed on her shoulder. She looked up into Zabuza’s face. He was grinning still.

“Good job,” he told her.

Sakura didn’t even have the energy to nod but something like a smile twitched at her lips. Zabuza’s pride should mean nothing to her; but when it was paired with how justified those killings had felt, well, something close to elation bubbled in Sakura

“I’m going to get the funds we’re owed. And some extra for this mess,” Zabuza said turning back towards the house, “Be at the boat in five minutes.”

“Let’s go,” Haku smiled prettily at Sakura. 

She followed him back into the manor on tired feet. Haku headed for what she assumed was the kitchen but pushed her towards the thug’s quarters.

“Go grab some supplies,” he told her, “And make sure no one is hiding here.”

Sakura gave a nod and headed down the hall, keeping her ears and eyes peeled for any living man but found nothing. Haku had said supplies and while Sakura didn’t know exactly what he meant, she was more than happy to grab a few things. When she’d been caught what felt like forever ago she’d had her pack with her own supplies on her. One of the thugs had rooted through it, stole her protein bars and cash, had laughed and flashed her underwear at the others to her horror, and then tossed her bag over the edge of the boat. 

Sakura found a replacement bag in one room and ended up stealing any cash she came across. Most of the thugs stayed on the mainland, close to the ports as ‘security’. But there was also a group that stayed here as well; men Gato liked more or men that were stronger. When Sakura swung a door open and saw a familiar purple toque tossed on a bed she nearly slammed the door on Yoshiro’s room. She ended up entering though, because Yoshiro had been on of Gato’s main men and he would have had more cash and stuff. She was right of course even as she shuddered trying not to touch anything of his. She also found a few nice knives in one of his drawers and while Haku hadn’t taken back the weapon’s pouch yet, she didn’t know if he was planning to. She ferreted the nice knives into her top. 

Sakura tried to find some clothes as well but most of the thugs had been large men and as such, nothing fit her. And then Sakura realized who had been closest to her in size. 

Knowing she was on a time crunch Sakura ran down the halls, up the stairs, and into Gato’s rooms. One glance at the doors and the state told her Haku or Zabuza had already been here through here for the valuables but that didn’t concern her. Sakura went for the man’s massive closet and shoved down any feelings of disgust for Gato and his things. She wasn’t stupid enough not to take something just because it had belonged to a …distasteful piece of garbage. Sakura rooted through the suits, bypassing them to look at what else the businessman had. She could easily see he didn’t have much in the way of practical clothing, but Sakura did find a really nice coat at the very back that was oiled canvas, meant to be extremely weatherproof and warm. Sakura rolled it up tight and shoved it in her bag. It would be big on her but better than nothing. Sakura ended up shoving a pair of leather gloves and a button up shirt that was also better than nothing in her bag as well. 

Her bag was full now, valuables and the cloak and a rather nice bedroll she’d pilfered filling it. 

Sakura headed for the dock. Zabuza was waiting for her but Haku was still gone. Her eyed the bag on her back and gave her a sharp nod, waving her at Gato’s luxury boat. Sakura boarded and watched as Zabuza started it going. Haku joined them just as Zabuza got them going. The first thing Haku did was offer Sakura a chunk of bread and an apple. Sakura, curled up on the leather bench, took both gratefully and tore into them. She didn’t bother asking where they were going as the boat angled towards the main dock. Zabuza, unbloodied for the day was already shifting his blade in anticipation and Sakura knew that any of Gato’s men that crossed their path wouldn’t be left breathing.

.--.

Sakura bit her lip and stared into the fog that Zabuza had created. They’d approached the bridge silently and seen no movement on it. Zabuza had given Haku a pointed look and Haku had rested a hand on Sakura’s shoulder while Zabuza took off onto the shore.

“If your sensei is still alive, we will leave you in his care,” Haku told Sakura giving her shoulder a squeeze.

“Promise?” Sakura said, voice cracking and breaking with the rush of emotions.

“I promise,” Haku told her smiling.

Sakura knew Haku would do whatever Zabuza commanded, even if it was to break a promise. But Sakura also knew that Haku was very kind (to people he liked at least) and hadn’t agreed with her captivity in any way. They loyalty he showed Zabuza was a mystery to Sakura but Sakura also knew that despite Zabuza’s words and gruff attitude, he liked Haku probably better than anyone else. Haku could argue with him freely and Zabuza would listen. Haku had said some tripe about being Zabuza’s tool once or twice but Sakura wasn’t stupid and she saw the way Zabuza treated Haku. He might agree with the claim that Haku was his tool all he wanted but Sakura knew it was just words. 

Zabuza landed on the boat with a grunt that startled Sakura. His eyes focused on her immediately and Sakura stilled. Her heart seemed to stutter as she took in how unpleased his expression was.

“Well, Gato’s men are dead,” Zabuza said, “Yuu was killed with extreme prejudice.”

“M-my team?” Sakura swallowed.

“The bridge-builder said the group ambushed your team and the bridge workers at first light. A few builders died but then some idiot decided to taunt your team.”

“With me,” Sakura said.

“Yeah,” Zabuza grunted, “Yuu claimed they’d killed you after having their fun and dumped your body in the ocean on the first day. Your sensei didn’t take that well apparently. The Bridge builder said it was a blood bath after that, and it was not Gato’s men that walked away.”

Sakura felt something like relief slump her shoulders.

“But they’re not here,” Zabuza finished and Sakura stared at him, “They thought you dead and said fuck the mission I guess. Bridge Builder said they barely even said goodbye, just told him good luck and cancelled the contract. They left as soon as the last of Gato’s men dropped dead and beelined it back for Konoha.”

Sakura felt something in her grow cold. They were gone. Her team was nearly a full day ahead of her on the way to Konoha. And Kakashi-sensei would have made them move quickly. Naruto and Sasuke’s speed and stamina far out weighed Sakura’s and she’d never catch up to them.

Sakura tried to calculate how likely it was she’d make it back to Konoha on her own, alive. It was nearly a two-week trip for a genin of her skill, and the road wasn’t maintained; there was wild animals and the threat of bandits. She faintly remembered the way back but she’d been stupid and hadn’t paid the greatest attention on the way here, and Konoha was called the Village Hidden in the Leaves for a reason. Sakura had aced her survival tests in the academy but they’d been mainly paper tests with controlled real ones. Sakura wasn’t sure she’d be able to find fresh water or truly hunt if she needed too. If she left the road to try any of that chances were high she’d get lost. Some of the bush was still trapped to hell from the wars and she remembered faintly that one of the eastern quadrants was layered in bombs still to stop Kiri advancement. 

Maybe she could do it but only one moment of inattention could kill her. This time of year the forest were thick with predators fattening up for winter. Bears were the least of it. Sakura remembered sitting through lessons on how some of the big local cats would stalk you for miles before attacking you from behind. 

Sakura pulled on the straps of her bag, tightening it.

“C-can you drop me off on the shore,” Sakura asked Zabuza.

“You won’t make it,” Haku whispered.

Sakura knew that. But what other choice did she have? Stay with them? She’d never get home either way. She looked up at Zabuza, waiting for him to simply kick her out of the boat. Zabuza looked at her for a long moment and then sneered.

“You’re still wearing my collar,” he said and his voice was as mean as it was in front of Gato, “That mean’s you’re mine still, brat.”

Sakura stiffened but he turned away from her and threw the boat forwards, away from both the shore of Wave and away from the Fire Country shore. Instead they headed south.

.--.


	2. Sun Warmed Water

“Why didn’t you give her the choice?” Haku asked.

Sakura, curled up on the floor of the boat and tucked in a corner, listened. They must have thought her asleep. She should have been asleep. The boat was anchored and the sky was dark as pitch and Sakura had been trying to fall asleep for hours but the lull of the waves on the boat kept her awake. She’d had a lot of practice at staying perfectly still though. 

“What choice?” Zabuza grumbled, “You know as well as I that she wouldn’t make it back to Konoha on her own. She’s too vulnerable.”

“But giving her a choice would have been kind,” Haku argued, “She’s smart enough to know it would be better to stick with us. But with how you bark at her it makes it seem all like she is still a captive.”

“Isn’t she?” Zabuza snarked.

“Zabuza,” Haku said meaningfully.

“No,” Zabuza said, voice strong even as it stayed rough, “She doesn’t get a choice. Nor are we going to call her anything but a captive.”

“But why?” Haku asked.

“Because if she gets back to that leaf village, they’re going to debrief her,” Zabuza said, pointedly, “They’re going to question her on why she didn’t try to get away. If she says the A-class Mining-nin liked to drag her around, liked to keep her close and gave her no window to escape they’ll nod and that will be that. But if she starts telling them the big bad missing nin gave her a choice and she didn’t take it…well that’s the words of a traitor.”

“But they must know she’d not make it back to Konoha all on her own. She’d die in the woods!”

“Yes, but that’s the thing about loyalty to a village; they don’t care if you die, just as long as you stay loyal.”

Haku was silent and Sakura barely dared breath.

“I don’t like it,” Haku finally said, “I don’t like her thinking she’s still a captive, that we might do anything to her.”

Zabuza snorted.

“You’re too soft kid,” he told the young man, “Besides, I don’t think the brat still thinks I’m going to chop her up or rape her.”

“No,” Haku agreed, “She knows better than that. She knows I won’t allow that at least.”

“Oh, you won’t allow that will you?” Zabuza asked, tone mean.

“No,” Haku said simply and it wasn’t a challenge it was simply a statement.

Zabuza barked a harsh laugh but didn’t fight him. 

“Get some rest Haku,” Zabuza finally said, “And don’t worry to much about the brat. She’ll be fine.”

Sakura closed her eyes.

.--.

It didn’t take any more than a day of travel in the boat before Sakura realized they were headed South down along the coast and moving with stealth instead of speed. When the boat finally ran out of fuel, Zabuza scuttled it and they returned to the land, following the curve of the ocean from just inside the trees. 

It was a hard pace he set, at least for Sakura, and half the time she ended up on Haku’s back as they darted through Fire Country trees.

Sakura couldn’t quite tell when they slipped out of Fire Country but after a week of travel and more than one look at the stars told her they had moved sound and then east enough they must be entering Woods Country. She’d never really studied Woods Country for the simple reason they had no shinobi. She knew it existed because during the war Kiri and Konoha had fought over it viciously. Konoha hadn’t wanted to allow Kiri control of any of the mainland but Kiri had needed it to get off their islands without the use of long ship routes. The Land of Woods had a strong lumber export business, trading to the islands and Kiri, that had thrived even in the war, its civilian politicians declaring they wanted no business in the war. They wouldn’t have got away with such a stance if not for the fact they had double dealt in secret, giving Kiri lumber at much cheaper prices while also letting Konoha in their borders unchallenged. Konoha hadn’t had the resources to investigate civilian Wood’s dealings too closely and the war had been vicious here but not thick on the ground. 

The difference between Konoha and Woods seemed very minimal considering both were grand forests, but she did notice that Woods had a larger variety of softer trees, tall and straight and evergreen. 

Sakura was either exhausted from constant running with no energy to think or had nothing to do but think from Haku’s back as they darted through the trees. When she had time to think all she could focus on was the trees around them. Any other thoughts were too dangerous right now. Especially thoughts of home. 

“You’re on wood duty, Brat,” Zabuza said one night when they stopped.

Haku, who’d set her down gently, had already vanished. Sakura side-eyed Zabuza, legs store and stiff and mind still skittering away from the fact he was talking her further and further from home every day. Zabuza eyed her right back and then growled when she wasn’t showing any signs of moving. Sakura’s shoulder stiffened but she didn’t startle, instead she bared her teeth as she turned to obey. 

.--.

The best bit about travelling wasn’t just the absence of Gato and Yoshiro and Yuu (may they rest in pieces like she’d left them something in her snapped in glee), but the fact that Zabuza and Haku were with her almost all the time, which meant when they ate she did too. She didn’t know if the lack of food had been malicious on Zabuza’s part, but she was starting to think it was mostly he just forgot that even tiny looking kids could eat more than he thought. Haku had left her snacks but Zabuza who barely seemed to eat himself, had barely ever pointedly handed her food; he’d somehow seemed to expect her to get it on her own. 

Another sign it hadn’t been on purpose, or malicious at least, was the fact that he let her eat her fill whenever she wanted on the road. When they roasted fish or rabbit, or quail when they found them, he never smacked her hands away or sneered at her. Haku always seemed to know when she wanted more and gave her encouraging looks. 

One night, while digging firewood out of the bush she’d found a great big blackberry bush and stuffed her mouthful before taking the firewood back to camp. Haku had her show him where the bush was and while he picked some for himself and Zabuza, Sakura unashamedly stuffed her face. Zabuza barely looked at her berry stained lips and seemed indifferent to the fact that Haku handed her more fish.

.--.

“Listen up brat,” Zabuza said abruptly one day, stopping their run dead.

Since it was early in the day Sakura was still on her own two feet; albeit her very shaky feet. 

“Are you listening?” Zabuza snapped like she was a misbehaving dog.

Sakura looked at him dead on, shoulders hunched but gaze straight. 

“Stay right here, until we return. Don’t move. Got it?”

Sakura stared at him, less confrontational and more bewildered, looking around and wondering where they could possibly going. 

“There is a tow that way,” Haku said pointing north east, “We need to stop there.”

“Don’t tell her everything,” Zabuza snapped turning on his heel and launching into the tree.

Haku rolled their pretty pretty eyes at him visibly and smiled at Sakura again.

“We just need to make contact with someone. We will be back in a few hours. Rest a bit.”

Sakura stood very still as Haku left. She listened carefully and immediately lost track of the two shinobi as they vanished from her senses. Sakura breathed deeply once, the sound of birds and wind in the leaves and happy squirrel chatter in her ears. She breathed deeply again and the forest seemed to breath with her. 

She was… she was alone.

Sakura looked around her and wondered what she was supposed to do with the fact she was alone, with no thugs or Zabuza within a hundred feet of her. She looked North West, looked back at the path they had been running for the past week. She calculated how long it would take her to walk the same path alone. She looked into the distance at roughly the direction of Konoha and for one long moment she thought. 

She looked away.

Sakura looked around the small clearing until she was sure she had it memorized and then moved into the trees towards the sound of water. The small creek wasn’t too far away and she carefully memorized the way back to the clearing before she dumped her backpack on the mossy shore. The trees were packed tight around the small bubbling creek, the water no more then three feet wide and maybe two feet deep at it’s deepest. But it ran clean and clear and since it was shallow it wasn’t ice cold.

Sakura strained her senses again but felt nothing and no one. Haku had said there was a village but she assumed it was a distance away considering she couldn’t hear any signs of it, nor even see signs of smoke over the treetops. Maybe they were worried she’d run if she was back in civilization. 

Stupid idea really, Sakura though fingers skimming her collar. She knew better. 

Sakura stripped out of her clothes and into the creek, grabbing handfuls of silt and pebbles to scrub at her skin. She dunked as best she could, laying flat on the bottom of the creek bed and just managing to get under the flow. She eyed her clothes for a bit as she sat in the water and then took the risk of washing her shirt. It was warm enough outside, and the shirt thin enough, that it should dry. Haku had said a couple hours.

When she was as clean as she could managed and her shirt scrubbed, she returned to the little clearing. She hung her fisherman’s shirt on a branch and rooted through her pack. She’d ended up shoving one of Gato’s button up shirts in there on their way out of the manor and though her skin crawled at the thought of him touching it, she pulled it on because the thought of Haku or Zabuza seeing her topless made her twitch more. 

Then Sakura laid back in the soft loamy soil with it’s patches of moss and grass and dozed.

.--.

When Zabuza and Haku returned Sakura was wearing her original shirt again, Gato’s shoved back in her bag. She’d managed a bit of sleep and some stretching and felt better than she had in days. Any good feeling vanished as Haku and Zabuza immediately zeroed in on her, both varying severe expressions. Haku’s was flat and cold, something like wariness in it while Zabuza’s was just blank. Sakura gripped her pack tightly but didn’t look away. 

“Come on Brat,” Zabuza demanded.

He barely even waited for her before turning on his heels and moving into the trees. Haku didn’t wait for her to follow and instead scooped her up and shot off after Zabuza. Sakura clung to Haku and swallowed thickly as they moved. 

The village, a small port town, was half an hour away at their speeds (which meant it would have been much more than an hour to reach at her level). Between one moment and the next Sakura was suddenly in a stranger’s arms. Haku had applied a henge so perfectly, like pulling on a new hat and suddenly Sakura was in a red-headed woman’s arms, her eyes the same shade as Sakura’s. They could have been a mother carrying her daughter. Zabuza’s henge was simpler, his sword seeming to vanish and his shinobi clothes (or lack of in the torso area) suddenly replaced with a civilian laborer’s outfit. He kept his mouth shut, his sharp teeth hidden, and Sakura was dizzy looking at them. They looked…normal.

They broke out of the trees. Sakura looked at the ground and focused on breathing. Haku tugged Sakura’s shirt closed tighter, hiding the collar beneath it and hummed idly like a woman enjoying the day. The rush of people wasn’t really a rush considering the size of the village compared to what Sakura was used to in Konoha. But she’d just spent time where any amount of people close to her was cause for alarm. Sakura breathed harshly through her nose and felt herself start to shake. 

She thought she’d left her trembling behind, thought she’d killed it when she’d killed Yoshiro. But now she realized she’d simply been in something like shock for the past week. Just her and Zabuza and Haku had been like a buffer to the world. Sakura hadn’t gotten calmer, she’d simply been away from everything that made her shake.

Haku squeezed her gently.

“Set her down,” Zabuza said abruptly.

Haku obeyed giving Sakura on tender smile before Zabuza rested a hand on the back of her neck and guided her towards a bar. Sakura resisted the urge to look back at Haku for reassurance and simply followed Zabuza’s guidance into the little civilian bar.

“In the left corner,” Zabuza grunted low and careful.

Sakura blinked her eyes quickly to adjust to the light and looked into the left corner. There was a woman sitting at a table, hunched over an open bottle, beside her a young woman with dark hair and a ...pig in her arms? Sakura glanced up at Zabuza’s, unsure. 

“Go to her,” Zabuza growled giving her a shove.

Sakura obeyed on shaky legs, cautiously walking towards the woman. She must have been sensed, or maybe she’d been watched since she entered, because the woman rolled her head and looked directly at Sakura, hazel eyes pinpointing her with harsh focus. Sakura froze and swallowed. Zabuza growled behind her and she forced her feet to drag her closer. The woman was blonde, twin pigtails hanging over her shoulders. Her eyes were sharp despite the drink flushing her cheeks and her gaze was not kind. 

Sakura stopped just outside the woman’s reach and stared for a long quite moment as the woman stared right back at her. Finally, those harsh eyes looked away from her, back at Zabuza briefly, and then returned to her. The woman shifted, lifting her head further and bangs slid away tor reveal a purple diamond tattooed in the center of her forehead. 

Sakura’s tongue was heavy in her mouth.

“Senju Tsunade,” she finally choked out.

“That’s my name, kid, what’s it to you?” the woman sneered. 

Sakura stared at the sannin and couldn’t make her mouth work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i couldn't figure out what country was the inlet off of Fire country and above Tea Country was called. I saw people calling it Valley Country and Woods Country the most so that's what i went with. I made up some history for it because it must have some from being the closest mainland to Kiri but right beside Fire country as well. 
> 
> Also, bam, Tsuande! Bet you weren't expecting that! and no, Zabzua didn't go into town to find her, he just ran across her.


	3. The Current is not Kind

.--.

Sakura stared up at Senju Tsunade and felt so many thoughts flash through her mind she could barely grasp any of them. Tsunade stared back at her, eyes open and assessing. Her eyes lingered on the collar around Sakura’s neck and Sakura instinctively snarled at her, warning her away from it, a habit she didn’t realize she’d picked up. Tsunade raised a slow blonde brow at her as if amused at her reaction. 

“You look and sound like a Konoha native,” Tsunade remarked, taking a swig of her bottle, “Especially if you recognize me so quickly.”

“Yes,” Sakura managed.

“What are you doing out here, kid? You’re what, genin judging on your chakra reserves? Where’s your sensei?”

Sakura opened her mouth and then closed it again and tried to think of a way to explain what her life had been like for the last month and a half. She couldn’t think of anything to say but ‘terror’. The dark haired woman at Tusnade’s shoulders was silent but had sharp eyes and seemed to be watching their interaction like a guard. Sakura barely glanced at the stranger, keeping all her focus on the sannin. 

“He’s not here,” Sakura finally said, “He’s in Konoha.”

“And you’re not,” the woman said blandly, spinning her bottle idly, “Who’s the dick who dragged you in here? Not a debt collector at least, I recognize those type pretty quickly. Not that you’re old enough to have any debt.”

Sakura kept her mouth shut. Zabuza was not her friend but he wasn’t an enemy either and she wouldn’t rat him out. Not yet at least.

“Can you take me back to Konoha?” Sakura asked slowly, heart beating a bit faster. 

A sannin could get her home through the wilds. It would be rather easy. 

“Ha! No!” Tsunade laughed, “I’m not going anywhere near that shitty place every again. Not for anything.” 

Sakura wasn’t sure she’d had enough in her to hope, but something withered in her at such a quick blunt refusal. 

“Fuck you then,” Sakura said, voice rough.

Senju Tsunade was a legend; she was a Senju, the best medic in the world, a sannin, and the strongest person alive. Sakura had read about how she’d helped turn the tide of the war, how she’d redone Konoha’s whole hospital system, how she’d been so very very strong. Sakura had not read about how Senju Tsunade abandoned Konoha. Iruka-sensei had told them, when they’d pleaded to meet her, that Tsunade was on extended leave, traveling the world. He’d said nothing about how she drank enough she reeked of it, how she could recognize a debt collector at sight, how she hated Konoha.

Sakura stared at the legend that was Senju Tsunade and found her lacking. Something in her withered further, maybe her faith in her own village. Wouldn’t even help a fucking genin from her own village. Sakura turned her back on the woman and went to go after Zabuza. The hand grabbing her wrist sent her snarling again but didn’t let go.

“Hold up,” Tsunade said, “You’re injured.”

Sakura glowered at her.

“Sit.”

“You’re not in charge of me,” Sakura said because she had nothing else to say.

“Technically I can pull rank,” Tsunade smirked.

“I don’t think you can call yourself a Konoha Shinobi anymore,” Sakura accused.

Tsunade didn’t flinch, didn’t even appear hurt by that accusation, just continued smirking at Sakura. Sakura waited only because the woman had yet to let go of her. The blonde’s hands lit green as they ran across her arm, the one Haku had cut the stitches out of just a few days ago. Sakura had dutifully taken the anti-biotics and had tried to keep the stitches clean and she had been rewarded with zero infection; it had still scarred and sometimes Sakura traced the teeth marks with her fingers and thought of how she was exactly like those mad dogs. 

Tsunade passed this wound quickly, looking unconcerned, and traced up some of her other cuts and bruises. Under the green glow they vanished. 

“You need more vitamins,” Tsunade said idly, “More food in general, but definitely vitamins. Eat some damn fruit kid.”

Sakura stayed silent, almost sullenly. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew how to eat a balanced diet. She just didn’t have a lot of access to fruit or veggies. Berries more lately but it wasn’t like she could just waltz into a shop. Tsunade didn’t even ask her if she could, didn’t ask her where she’d gotten her wounds, didn’t ask how a Konoha-genin was with a Kiri missing-nin beyond a vague curiosity. Sakura was starting to dislike the woman. 

“Can you show me how to do that?” Sakura asked as the woman healed yet another bruise.

“Takes a lot of practice before you can use it on people,” Tsunade told her bluntly, “And takes massive control. Doubt you’d get it, kid.”

“I have good chakra control,” Sakura glowered at her.

“That’s what they all say,” Tsunade snickered at her.

Sakura didn’t know how to prove it and so she simply continued glowering.

“Tell you what kid, I’ll give you a technique to try and learn,” Tsunade smirked, “I’ll let you in on the secret to my strength.”

The way she said it was mocking, and it fell in a way that Sakura got the feeling it was not so much a secret as a personal quirk that allowed Tsunade her monstrous strength. Sakura had heard Tsunade could knock a mountain down with her fist. Sakura thought about that fact and wondered faintly how she did it. It had to be chakra or a jutsu of course, but Tsunade claimed no forbidden jutsus and didn’t try to hide her skill.

“What is it then?” Sakura asked suspiciously.

“It’s all in the chakra,” Tsunade smirked, “Shinobi circulate chakra through their muscles nearly automatically to increase speed and strength, and after a bit the muscles get naturally like that. It’s how we are able to do things like leap so high and move so fast despite being genetically the same as civilians. Our chakra moulds our bodies until they’re at peak performance. Even when you can’t use chakra you can still do most of these feats after a while because of how it conditions your body. Without chakra I’m still the strongest badass around, but with chakra I can go an extra step. How do you think chakra lets me do that?”

Well it sounded simply like Tsunade was extending the abilities most ninja used; augmenting muscles with chakra. But how to get it do precise as to break mountains? Sakura shrugged, eyes watching Tsunade carefully. 

“I use bursts of chakra,” Tsunade grinned, “Absolutely miniscule but perfectly timed and controlled bursts and releases of chakra through my muscles; mainly my fists.”

“But…” Sakura thought, “But that would require… the control to do that…”

She stared at Tsunade unsure. The amount of chakra control that would take…. Tsunade’s grin told her she knew that well. No wonder her techniques weren’t hidden; it was just impossible. Well, not impossible she supposed, the proof was the woman before her. But is was so unlikely that people would have or work for that control…

“You learn to do that and I’ll teach you any medical jutsu you want,” Tsunade mocked her, “If you can find me again.”

Sakura glared at her. She hadn’t truly thought of medical jutsu, hadn’t really had a desire to learn, she’d simply asked because it was such a practical skill when she was getting cut up all the time. But the way Tsunade mocked her like that burrowed under her skin and sparked against her anger. Sakura had always had a temper and it came even easier these days. The rage from Wave lingered in her bones and was quick to spark into a fire still. She was also finding out she was as stubborn as a mule and didn’t take well to mocking.

“Fuck you,” Sakura repeated her earlier sentiment and Tsunade laughed.

Sakura stood and this time Tsunade let her. All her cuts and bruises had been healed and a thank you was on the tip of Sakura’s tongue, but she swallowed it down. Tsunade didn’t deserve her thanks. Sakura turned and strode off. Zabuza had slipped off but he couldn’t be far. 

She didn’t look back.

.--.

“You didn’t have to be so atrocious to her,” Shizune hissed at her as the kid walked away.

“Wasn’t going to lie to her,” Tsunade snorted, “Nor give her false hope that we’d take her home if she stayed with us.”

“And why not?” Shizune demanded, “She’s a Konoha-genin, one who looks like she needs help. You’re saying you wouldn’t escort her back to Konoha?”

“Fuck no. I’m not going back there, they’ll try and trap me,” Tsunade crossed her arms, “Besides, she looks like she’s doing fine.”

That was a lie of course. Kid was not in good shape. Sure most of her injuries were old but she was obviously running off the bare minimum; deprived of food, sleep, and just plain old rest. Tsunade knew the look of someone running on both fumes and stubbornness. She was a mess, that kid, with greasy hair (that obviously had seen water but not soap) and bags under her eyes and dirt under her finger nails and clothes that fit her ill. It looked like she’d had a hard time. But her scan had also told Tsunade she wasn’t suffering any real trauma. Not even any sexual trauma which had been her first thought when Momochi Zabuza had dragged a little girl into a backwater bar. 

And hadn’t that been confusing. Notorious Kiri missing-nin, A-classed Momochi Zabuza who was known for being an asshole, had a little pink haired kid tagging behind him. An apparent Konoha-genin at that. It was obvious he’d dragged her in here to pass her off to Tsunade. Even drunk as a skunk Tsunade would have been able to spot a disguised nin of Momochi’s calibre, especially when he was being unsubtle. That he’d pushed the girl at Tsunade couldn’t be any less obvious. Tsunade wondered what the real story was. How else would a twitchy little genin like the girl end up with Momochi? And why he seemed to allow her to stick with him or try to pass her back to a Konoha-nin on his first chance. That meant not a kidnapping situation at least. 

Oh well, her curiosity wouldn’t get answered. Momochi didn’t seem like he was taking ideal care of her but if she really was a Konoha genin she wasn’t his responsibility. The fact he hadn’t left her to die in a ditch was more than was expected of him at all. He didn’t seem like he was abusing her or dragging her around against her will so it was none of Tsunade’s fucking business. 

Tsunade turned back to her sake, smirking at the memory of the glower on that banged up face. Taunting her with her techniques had been amusing at least. Tsunade sipped her sake and snickered too; what kind of ninja had pink fucking hair?

.--.

Zabuza grunted when the Brat caught up to them just outside the town. She appeared silently at his feet, trailing along at his heel.

“Should have stayed with the sannin, brat.”

The brat turned green eyes up at him and he was almost proud to see how they’d hardened up nicely. They’d been glossy the first time he’d looked into them; glossy with fear, with tears. They were nicer like this. 

“She wouldn’t take me home,” the kid said.

“I’m not going to either,” Zabuza grunted.

She simply looked at him and he grumbled but didn’t tell her to fuck off. Truth be it had been a long shot. Senju Tsunade was well known to have abandoned Konoha even if they hadn’t labelled her a missing-nin. Politics or some such bullshit, but Zabuza recognized a missing-nin pretty easy these days. Senju Tsunade was famous as the last Senju, but in dark corners she was also famous for her gambling addiction and the fact she was a barely functioning alcoholic who skirted around the edges of Fire Country, never daring to get too close to her Village. The sannin might have been an easier choice to leave the Brat with, but Zabuza couldn’t quite say it would have been a _good_ choice. 

“That was your last chance,” Zabuza told the kid. 

She simply followed him silently, eyes unflinching. He grunted and looked forward again. He only had himself to blame for making her look at people head on like that he supposed. He’d been so tired of the insipid cowering, of the way she wouldn’t look the fuckers in the face. Zabuza would have never cowered like that and he hadn’t allowed her to either. It had only taken a few tugs of her hair before she’d gotten the hint. She hadn’t cowered away from at least looking her enemies in the face since.

“Keep up,” Zabuza said.

“Fuck you.”

He supposed he was to blame for that as well. Fucking brat.

.--.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like many people mentioned in the comments, and as shown in the manga, Tsunade was not a nice person pre-Naruto. Even after hearing about the invasion and the Sandaime's death, she mocked her old sensei and refused to help. She would not have returned if not for Naruto, Orochimaru, and plot. She's a barely functioning alcoholic with gambling addiction and PTSD who lost everyone she loved and blames Konoha. Sakura, a complete unknown to her, is not worth facing Konoha and all that it is to her. 
> 
> Also don't get used to other's POV, just slipped Tsuande's and Zabuza's in briefly.
> 
> Someone mentioned in the comments mentioned Zabuza and Haku's relationship and that is exactly what i'm trying to mirror with Sakura and them. Zabuza picked Haku up as a whim and trained him up (called him a tool cause he's a jerk but did care deep down). He pretty much did the same with Sakura. My thoughts were that Haku and Zabuza had a rough beginning as well, because Haku was just as traumatized in a different way. Haku is kinder to her and more concerned with her health because he's been in her position and knows exactly how it feels.


	4. Into the Unknown

“Here,” Haku said, tipping a handful of nuts into her pack, “Gather what you can. We’ll be living mostly off of fish for a bit.”

Sakura nodded even as she wondered where they were going. The darkness was just settling in as they made camp, Zabuza disappearing into the bush grunting about hunting. Sakura scurried through the underbrush, gathering wood and whatever else should including berries and a few herbs she recognized. She ended up cutting the shirt she’d stolen from Gato up so she could wrap her findings, carefully arranging her pack so the berries weren’t crushed. 

When Haku started a fire he put a pot of water on and Sakura watched as he dumped handfuls of pine needles into it.

“Gather a good deal of these as well, whatever you can fit in your pack,” Haku said handing her one of the needles. 

Sakura obeyed trying to remember what pine needles were good of. When her pack was full Haku poured her a cup of the tea. It wasn’t really that good but she drank it.

“Pine needles have a great deal of vitamin A and C,” Haku told her, “Kiri-nin rely on it a lot since we often have a shortage of vegetables and fruit at Sea.”

Sakura noted it away and then when Zabuza arrived started to pluck the bird he’d caught. She didn’t ask why he was wet up to his knees if he’d only been hunting. The waves were distant roar, close enough to hear but still not close enough to see and Sakura knew that tomorrow she’d be seeing them up close.

.--.

Sakura rubbed tiredly at her eyes but didn’t complain out loud as she followed Haku and Zabuza onto the waves. It was barely even morning and the fog was thick enough Sakura knew she had to keep close or she’d be lost. She’d had to pull on her coat this morning too, unrolling the thick oiled canvas and slipping into it. She’d had to roll the sleeves up a few times but the length was a boon. Now if only she’d been smart enough to grab boots or socks instead of keeping her ninja sandals. Luckily circulating chakra to her feet to walk on water kept them warm enough not to freeze in the sea spray.

Sakura considered how much colder being on the ocean was as opposed to the trees. She wondered if Kiri would be as cold as they set off across the waved Eastwards. Sakura wasn’t an idiot and she knew exactly where they were headed even if she didn’t know why.

She glanced at the scratched Kiri headband on Zabuza’s head and wondered what a missing-nin was doing returning to his betrayed Village. 

.--.

Sakura curled her face into Haku’s neck to protect it from the chill and sea spray. Her limbs felt like lead and her chakra was barely even a buzz anymore.

“Your stores will expand,” Haku told her kindly as they ran across choppy water.

He slid down a swell like the water was a slide and Sakura felt her stomach swoop. The waves this far out were large and dangerous and she was glad she was no longer fighting them. She thought about her chakra stores and knew them to be bigger already. When she’d left Konoha they’d been less than mediocre, only her control making up for the lack. Since she’d learned water-walking and tree-walking and had been using it liberally, they had started to expand. But it felt like a snail’s pace. 

“Will we hit land soon?” she murmured into Haku’s kimono.

“Not much land out here,” he told her, “but we will find rock in a bit.”

“Pass her here Haku,” Zabuza interrupted them.

Haku didn’t hesitate and Sakura was tossed through the air to land in Zabuza’s arms. He tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and Sakura resisted the urge to snarl at him. Haku at least treated her like a passenger instead of luggage.

“Shut it brat,” Zabzua said as if he could feel the rumblings of her unreleased snarl, “Shitty brats don’t get to complain when they can’t keep up.”

Sakura glared at his feet. 

“Zabuza,” Haku said, and at first Sakura thought it was a reprimand for his tone, but then she saw the way he was looking into the distance with narrowed eyes. 

“Keep your senbon handy,” Zabuza grunted, “Should be who we want, but could be a trap. And you brat, if I toss you to the side, you get out of the way. Got it?”

Sakura nodded. 

The crested a wave and Sakura twisted, lifting herself up with her hand son his shoulder to peer at the rock they were approaching. Haku was right; she’d never call the jutting of stone ‘land’. But it was shore and not water.

And there was someone waiting on it. 

They landed lightly on a jagged edge and Sakura peered at the people waiting. Two ninja cloaked and hooded and one tall upright woman with flaming red hair.

“Zabuza,” the woman greeted rather cheerfully.

She looked out of place in a beautiful Konoichi kimono, waves of burnt red hair draped around it, while standing on a desolate jutting rock in the middle of the ocean. 

“Mei,” Zabuza grunted, “Got your message. We assembling?”

“Yes,” she said, “And is this Haku, I’ve heard so much about you!”

She beamed at Haku who gave her a respectful not of his head.

“My my, he is much prettier than I expected,” Mei said batting her lashes, “What are you doing traveling with a brute like Zabuza?”

Haku merely smiled but didn’t answer.

“And who’s this?” Mei asked, eyes looking at Sakura with an intensity she didn’t expect. 

Zabuza set her down on her feet and she shook for a minute, unused to solid ground after a day on the waves. She resisted the urge to flinch away from Mei’s scrutiny and met her gaze under her fringe of hair. Zabuza’s hand was still on the back of her neck, holding her upright. Mei frowned suddenly, all cheer gone, and then she vanished.

Zabuza hit the ground beside her so hard it seemed to crack under him. Sakura gasped in shock at the move, watching how Zabuza actually recoiled with the blow even as she scrambled out of the way, throwing herself back. Haku went for the woman’s throat instantly at the move of aggression but one of the cloaked men ducked between them and threw Haku away through the air. That didn’t stop the air from getting very cold, ice cracking across the puddles as Haku came lunging back a snarl twisting his pretty face.

“Stand down,” Zabuza wheezed at Haku, face twisted in a rictus of pain and annoyance.

Haku cut off his attack with the familiar ease of obeying instructions but he didn’t look happy about it, glaring at the two attackers. Sakura, a knife slipped carefully into her hands, knew she was being watched by the two as well. They weren’t looking at her but they definitely weren’t unaware of her. But if their attention slipped….

The woman pinning Zabuza with a foot on his chest turned fully towards her and Sakura froze at having such attention focused on her. Mei’s eyes narrowed on Sakura and the foot pressing into Zabuza pressed harder. Zabuza wheezed, grabbing at her ankle but nothing more.

“Get the fuck off of me, Mei,” Zabuza managed to rattle. 

“I don’t think I will,” Mei said, and her voice was smooth but strong, “I called you back here Zabuza because I thought even after all this time you were still a man I could trust.”

“I am,” Zabuza growled, sounding almost offended. 

“The type of men I trust don’t have little girls in collars,” Mei said eyes on Sakura still.

Sakura hunched slightly, letting the collar hide under her shirt but Mei didn’t look away. 

“Shut up,” Zabuza said, “It’s not like that.”

Mei narrowed her eyes at him, finally looking away from Sakura. There was a moment of silent stand off and then the woman stepped back. Zabuza coughed in a full chest of air and glared at her as he picked himself up.

“Take it off of her,” Mei demanded.

Sakura froze. 

For one long moment Sakura raged between giddiness and dread. On one hand she hated the collar. Hated how Gato had forced it upon her. Hated being collared like a dog to yank around with a leash. But…but Sakura knew she’d had plenty of opportunity to take it off. Zabuza might have taunted her with it but he wouldn’t have said a word if she’d stripped it off and burned it. 

But now…now Sakura was in the middle of the Land of Water and they were meeting up with Kiri-nin and Sakura didn’t know them. Sakura was leagues and leagues away from home, away from safety. And Sakura might not like the collar, but it made a very blatant showing of the fact she belonged to someone. And in this situation, belonging to someone meant a sort of protection. Sakura was Zabuza’s and she was sure very few would mess with her due to that fact. 

But take the collar away and she was just a little pink haired foreign genin in the midst of something dangerous.

Sakura grasped the collar and took a step back from these strangers. The woman tilted her head at that, watching Sakura even as Zabuza gave her a slow glance.

“It’s not like that,” Zabuza repeated, “Leave the Brat alone, she’s fine. There are more important things to talk about.”

Mei narrowed her eyes, looking between them but then finally gave a sharp nod and turned to Zabuza. Sakura didn’t let herself think the woman had forgotten her but she was leaving it alone for now. 

“Let’s go, we have a camp set up deep in the cave,” Mei said before striding off into the darkness. 

Her guard followed her and Sakura edged over closer to Haku as they set off after them. Zabuza stayed close enough to Mei they could exchange quick sharp words. Despite how the they had mentioned a cave, Sakura couldn’t see one as she nearly tripped over a piece of rock, the ground entirely uneven where it was even level. Haku reached out to her, taking her hand in his. He gave her a soft smile that was still a tad tense.

“Stick with me,” he told her.

Sakura didn’t bother telling him that had been the plan already as they came upon an upright rock that shadowed a tiny little opening.

.--.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter Mei


	5. Cold to the Bone

The cave was... well it was a cave. Sakura eyed the formations of stone and noted that it wasn't quite natural. While there were stalactites and stalagmites and uneven bits in between, there was too much smoothed ground, to much of a rounded overhead. 

The place was small, like a clearing in a forest and shadows from the torch one man carried danced across the grooves in the wall. There was already a set of bedrolls laid out beside packs of supplies. They must have been here for a night or two already Sakura noted

“You’re with me,” Mei said suddenly, and Sakura spun, feet bracing instinctively.

Mei simply smiled at her even as Sakura wondered how the woman had gotten behind her.

“W-with you??” Sakura swallowed. 

“We’re going to have a bath,” Mei said.

Sakura glanced around the cave as if she’d missed a bath on the first look. Mei gave her a grin and a wink and herded her around a jut of rock and then there was a narrow crack. Sakura shot a desperate look at Zabuza who just crossed his arms and glowered at Mei. Haku gave Sakura a look that said it was okay though so Sakura didn’t fight the herding.   
They slipped through the narrow tunnel, the ground sloping under their feet and the others grew distant, all sound cut off in the curves of rock. Sakura hoped she wasn’t being taken to her execution. But she followed regardless. What more could she do? This woman had put Zabuza in the ground effortlessly and Sakura was leagues away from Zabuza in strength.

Mei had to turn sideways to squeeze past one section of the tunnel and then suddenly they were in an open cavern. Sakura gaped around her. The cavern wasn’t large, just a bit taller than Mei and a tad wider with a pool of water sitting in the middle. But the shocking part was that the ceiling was covered in some sort of soft glowing blue blobs and strings. 

“Glow worms,” Mei said, face odd in the blue light. 

Sakura watched as Mei approached the water and knelt beside it. She made some hand signs Sakura couldn’t make out and then shoved her hands into the water. Sakura watched with shock as her hands glowed nearly orange. The water started to bubble almost instantly where her hands touched it and soon the whole pool was steaming away.

“There, that should warm it up and kill any creepy crawlies,” Mei said cheerfully.

Sakura simply gaped. The woman started to tug her clothes off and when she was undressed she dipped straight into the water.

“Come on,” Mei said.

Sakura took her clothes off carefully, leaving them on rocks instead of the damp floor. She shivered out of her clothes and slipped into the water. It was blissful and Sakura felt herself relax immediately as the heat started to seep in. 

“Hey, let me get that for you.”

Sakura tensed as fingers grazed at her neck. And then the buckle of her collar was being undone very gently. It tightened briefly and then it was falling away from her neck. Sakura’s hand rose almost unconsciously at how odd it felt to have a bare neck. She trailed her fingers across her throat and was glad the bruising from it had healed long ago. Zabuza hadn't pulled her by it in long enough it wasn't even sore.

“There. You look much better without that garbage,” Mei chirped.

“I…” Sakura paused.

She let it go. 

“Let me get your hair,” Mei said, reaching to her things.

Sakura turned and let the woman pour some what she assumed was shampoo onto her head. The first touch of her fingers made Sakura tense but it was a gentle enough touch that Sakura soon started to relax. 

“Did Zabuza cut your hair?” Mei asked lightly.

Sakura nodded.

“What a brute. Chopping off a girl’s hair,” she said something ugly in her voice.

“It…” Sakura swallowed, “It was too matted and tangled to do much else.”

“Hmm.” 

After Sakura ducked under the water to get rid of the soap Mei let her do the same for her and Sakura carefully dug her fingers into the mane of copper waves. Mei’s hair was long and thick and soft; everything Sakura had wanted in her hair at one point.

“I want you to tell me the truth,” Mei said lowly after a long moment, “Tell me if Zabuza has done anything to you. I don’t abide by rapists or slavers.”

“No,” Sakura said instantly.

“Is that the truth? If you fear him, know that I’m more than strong enough to put him in the ground permanently.”

Sakura finished washing Mei’s hair and when Mei turned towards her she finally spoke. 

“Zabuza saved me,” Sakura said very quietly

Mei searched her face for the truth. 

“I’m glad,” Mei said, smiling again, “I had not thought Zabuza as such a man, but I have seen good men do terrible things before. Tell me the story.”

And so Sakura did. She told it in fits and starts, hesitating over details. But she told Mei about Gato and his men, about how much Yoshiro had scared her. She didn’t tell Mei about the dogs or about Zabuza yanking her around by her chain or hair, but she did tell Mei at how she’d killed Yoshiro and Gato both. Told Mei how her team thought her dead, accidentally leaving her behind in that belief. Told Mei about how Zabuza hadn’t let her try to get home alone.

“Good,” Mei said at the end, when Sakura had run out of words, “I mean, he dragged you into this situation, which I can’t say is any safer than trying to make it back to Konoha through Fire Country Wilds, but this way we can keep an eye on you.”

Could make sure that if she died they’d be sure and not just wonder, Sakura thought idly. Sakura wanted to ask if they’d pass the message along to Konoha if she did die in whatever this situation was. Ask if they would at least tell Kakashi-sensei and her team and her parents that Sakura hadn’t died useless against civilians, that she’d fought that horror and won. Sakura didn’t open her mouth and ask that though, because what was the point. Dead was dead no matter how it happened. Her team didn’t need to hear she’d lived and they’d left her behind only for her to die later. Sakura wasn’t that cruel.

Sakura let the heat of the pool warm her to her marrow and they only got out as the water started losing that heat. Mei had brought towels and Sakura happily dried off before pulling on her dirty clothes. She pulled the collar on even as Mei watched. 

“Let me even that out,” Mei said, brushing the ends of Sakura’s hair.

“Later,” Sakura said, “It’s fine for now.”

Mei let it be. 

.--.

“You’re trembling is fucking annoying, knock it off,” Zabuza growled lowly at her.

Sakura glared at him, her trembles not abating. It was fucking cold okay. She had thought maybe the sea breeze had been what chilled her earlier, and then the bath would warm her up. But instead she was realizing it was the cutting damp in the air that seemed to soak to her bones. Sakura had no body fat to insulate her and while the oil-slicked coat was thick, it wasn't really warm. And she had no socks.

Haku shuffled closer to Sakura, tugging her bedroll so it was flush against his. Sakura went stiff for a moment when Haku lifted her blanket, but she was too cold to really complain. He tugged her close with an arm over her waist and then pulled her own blanket over the both of them. Sakura was wearing her coat under the blankets so Haku touched no skin at least. He tucked her face into his chest, putting his chin on her head and murmured to go to sleep.

“Mei will murder you kid,” Zabuza grunted.

“She’s cold,” Haku said simply. 

“Your funeral.”

Haku didn’t reply and Sakura slowly stopped shivering as she soaked in the heat of extra blankets and an extra body. Not that Haku gave off a lot of heat. He was skinny too, and she was pretty sure he ran cold, what with his ice bloodline. She could feel how chilled his face was, his chin on her head, but he didn’t seem half as cold as her. Sakura curled up tighter and tried to sleep, wondering faintly if Haku had ice in his veins. 

.--.

“If you call her ‘brat’ one more time, I’m going to break your face,” Mei told Zabuza after he snapped at Sakura to keep up.

“It’s her name,” Zabuza glared at her.

“It is _not_ ,” Mei said, looking affronted.

“Brat wouldn’t give me a real name, so it’s Brat.”

Mei turned a look on Sakura and Sakura gave the barest hint of a shrug. 

“Hmph,” Mei said, “Well call her something nicer.”

“Fuck no.”

They started to argue in hissed voices and Sakura fell back alongside Haku.

“Where are we going?” Sakura asked quietly.

“We’re moving to another island,” Haku said, “There is a base camp set up with others.”

Sakura was still unsure of what they were doing. She was starting to recognize that they were going deeper into Kiri territory, deeper into the twisting islands and the dangerous waters. The ninja they were meeting with had to be kiri-nin as well. Sakura still had no idea what was going on because Zabuza was a missing-nin but Mei and her guard didn’t have a slash through their headbands. And Mei and Zabuza argued like old friends, Mei bossing him around as if he wasn’t a feared criminal. And Zabuza arguing but obeying. It was…weird.

“Your water-walking is improving,” Haku told her.

“Thank you,” Sakura said with the faintest hint of a proud flush. 

Her chakra capacity was expanding she knew, but so was her control. She'd ben slowly learning to use less and less to fight the waves they leapt over. The waves had been easier to face today too, the ocean less roiling and the juts of rock they called islands calming the flow. 

Haku had warned her to merely tell him if she was faltering though. Because while the water looked calmer he told her of the riptides and currents that would drag her down against the rock. 

In the end she did have to get help because they were going so far, but she made it much further than usual. Haku crouched down to let her on his back as Mei yelled something and kicked water at Zabuza. Sakura climbed on Haku's back, grateful for the lift as well as how it warmed her front. she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck, faintly fond of how Haku was letting her hands linger anywhere near his throat like that.

They headed further and further into the mist, the waves, into Kiri territory. 

.--.


	6. Lay Beneath the Waves

“Stay close to me brat,” Zabuza barked.

Sakura nodded and hurried over. The journey across the water had been long, for Sakura at least, and the sight of land, even grey rock was comforting. Haku had let her off at the shore and Sakura noted how heavy the fog was around them, wondering faintly if it was natural or if it had been helped along like she was starting to suspect. Mei strode ahead of them, twisting in between the sharp jagged rocks. The island looked unhabitable, just a bunch of rocks sticking out of the ocean like claws breaching for the sky, but Mei looked like she was looking for something.

“Here we are,” Mei said as they followed her.

Sakura glowered at Zabuza when he impatiently hauled her over a section of rock she’d been trying to scale with tired chakra. He glared at her, looking just as grumpy and she let it go. He hadn’t pulled her by her collar at least. Mei was looking at a collection of jagged rocks. And then she stepped over one and disappeared. Sakura blinked and followed Zabuza as he stepped over the same rocks. There was a hole, just big enough for an adult man to squeeze into, hidden between the rocks and nearly invisible until you were on it. Sakura watched Zabuza drop in and glanced at Haku who gave her nod while Mei’s unnamed guard glared at all of them. 

Sakura stepped over the rocks and then put a hand on either edge of the hole. She was going to lever herself in carefully when a hand wrapped around her ankle and pulled. She yelped faintly as she was pulled down. Zabuza was at least nice enough to catch her after doing that and Sakura ignored his glare to cling to his shoulder. The drop was longer than she’d expected, and she just hung on as Zabuza shimmied down. They dropped into a cavern, Zabuza catching himself gracefully, and Sakura saw a faint light off in the distance. Zabuza waited for Haku to drop in beside them as he set her back on the ground and then set off, ignoring the other man. 

The followed the curve of the narrow cavern, more of a tunnel really, until it bloomed into a large cave. Sakura blinked, startled at the amount of light and then realized it was so bright because there were torches and a fire! Sakura gaped at the campsite the cave had been turned into. She glanced around quickly as she followed on Zabuza’s heels. There were groups of people here and there, surrounded by tents or open bedrolls and camping gear. Branching tunnels were lit by torches and seemed to always have someone nearby to keep an eye on them.

“More than I expected,” Zabuza muttered. 

Mei was waiting for them near the main firepit, someone talking to her quickly as she nodded.

“Well,” Mei said as they approached, “Welcome to base camp.”

Sakura looked at the pleased smile on Mei’s face and the hidden impressed expression Zabuza tried to push under his natural scowling face. 

“Feel free to bed down wherever there is room,” Mei continued, “If you need directions ask anyone. These tunnels branch into a series of reinforced caves we’ve been using.”

“Escape routes?” Zabuza merely asked.

“Two more to the surface and three through the water,” Mei said, “And well watched for uninvited guests.”

“You’ve been preparing,” Zabuza said and his tone was lighter, more respectful.

“We have,” Mei said, “Did you expect any less of us?”

“No, I knew you would do it right,” Zabuza grunted.

“Good. Go relax Zabuza, it was a long journey for you to get here.”

Sakura got the feeling Mei wasn’t talking about the trip from Wave despite how long that had been. 

“And kid, you’re with me,” Mei said.

Zabuza glared at Mei again.

“We’ve got a small cave for just women,” Mei shook her finger at Zabuza and his silent complaints, “No Men allowed.”

Zabuza didn’t argue against that surprisingly, just nodded at Mei and gave Sakura a shove towards her. Mei turned Sakura with a hand on her shoulder and led Sakura towards one of the branching tunnels. Sakura watched the way that everyone they passed offered Mei a nod, all respectful and cheery at the sight of the copper haired woman. Mei, Sakura was realizing, was someone very important. 

“Here we are,” Mei said as they slipped into a tunnel and followed its curve, “This is where I bunk.”

There were bedrolls spread about this much smaller cavern but no one was here at the moment.

“I saw some women staying in the other area,” Sakura said curious, “Why aren’t they here too?”

“What do you know about Kiri?” Mei asked instead of answering straight, “You’ve probably heard about the bloodline purges, about how it’s called bloody mist?”

Sakura nodded.

“Well Kiri has had a bloody past, a string of bad Kage’s have made it very…unpleasant to live in at times. It doesn’t help that the last Kage put in rigid caste systems that allowed for the systematic abuse of it’s citizens,” Mei said, her face twisted up in a frown, “And I think you know personally how, while Men and Women can face similar abuses in our lives, women experience them more often.”

Sakura gripped her shirt hem and nodded, catching on to what Mei was saying. 

“The women who use this area needed the safety of not being near so many others,” Mei said, not saying ‘men’ though they both knew what she meant, “No one in this group would do anything of the like of course, but they still need the security of distance. I thought maybe you could use that as well.”

Sakura looked down at that and faintly realized that Mei was right. Sakura had followed on Zabuza’s heels into the cave, surprised at the amount of people, and hadn’t let herself focus on the idea of them all being unknowns. Hadn’t let herself focus on the idea that they were mainly men. And not as easy to beat as civilian thugs. 

“Thank you,” Sakura said softly.

Mei ruffled her hair.

“Kunoichi often get the short end of the stick in life,” she smiled gently, “So we have to stick together.”

Mei helped her set her bedroll up right beside hers and Sakura let the pack drop from her shoulders, feeling a little better about this whole thing. Mei was still mostly a stranger, but Sakura was thinking that Mei at least wouldn’t let her get raped and tossed into a ditch on this journey at the very least. And Sakura had low standards these days because that was all she needed to feel safe.

Besides, she still had Zabuza and Haku.

.--.

That night the chill set in and Sakura couldn’t warm up despite wearing all her layers and tucked beneath her bedroll. At some point her shaking must have been keeping everyone awake but Sakura couldn’t stop the trembling, unused to this cutting damp cold. 

When arms reached for her she very carefully didn’t flinch. Mei pulled her close, tucked her under her own blankets with her and curled about her much like Haku had. Unlike Haku, Mei did not run cold. Sakura shivered, curling further into the living furnace that was Mei. Mei hummed under her breath and wrapped an arm around Sakura’s waist, pulling her as close as possible. 

“You shiver so hard you to shake the ground,” Mei teased her, voice a near whisper.

“I-It’s cold,” Sakura said.

“It’s just the damp. You get used to it.”

Mei was silent for a long moment, holding Sakura as the shivers died down a bit. Mei really was so nice and warm. 

“Do you have family back in Konoha?” Mei asked.

Sakura’s mind shied away from the thought of her parents. She’d very carefully tucked them out of mind. Almost literally. She’d locked up all thoughts of them and refused to look at them. If she did she’d start bawling.

“A boyfriend?” Mei asked when Sakura refused to open her mouth.

“No,” Sakura admitted, “I…I liked this boy on my team but he… well he didn’t pay me any attention. And I…I don’t think I want him to after this.”

“Shame,” Mei said, “Konoha must have a bunch of other cute guys though.”

“I guess,” Sakura said thinking of it. 

Her and Ino had giggled over a lot of boys even if they’d devoted their affection to Sasuke only. They could look at the others at least.

“And cute girls,” Mei said, voice teasing, “Since it had you.”

Sakura thought of Ino again. Of beautiful bright Ino with sunshine hair and cornflower blue eyes. Ino with her smile, Ino with her laugh, Ino with her eyes sparkling as they looked at her. Sakura squirmed at the thought of her friend. She knew Ino was pretty but she hadn’t ever really focused on it.

“Oh ho!” Mei hissed a laugh, “Is that it? You have a cute girl waiting back home for you?”

“Maybe,” Sakura flushed, because Ino probably was waiting for her.

Not like that of course, but Sakura knew if… _when_ she made it home, Ino would welcome her. And the idea of brilliant bright Ino and their friendship being there for her when she returned was better than any thoughts about boys, even if they were Sasuke. Sakura was learning to dislike many boys. Was learning to hate the men they grew into. 

“Well, we’ll get you home to your sweetheart yet,” Mei said brushing Sakura’s hair back with a free hand.

“Yeah?” Sakura asked, swallowing.

“Yeah,” Mei said gently, “I promise.”

Sakura buried her face in Mei’s neck and clung to her silently. Maybe believing in Mei, a strong brilliant woman who seemed so kind, was a better idea than trusting someone like Zabuza. She didn’t know though. She wanted to believe her so bad.

.--.

“Hey kid!”

Sakura turned towards the voice and eyed the man who waved her over. She approached slowly, carefully and he seemed content to wait for her to do so.

“You can sharpen a blade right?” he asked.

“Yes,” Sakura said cautiously, “I can sharpen ninja weapons at least. I’ve never attempted a sword.”

“Good enough. Take a seat.”

Sakura looked around but Zabuza and Mei were no where to be seen. Sakura sat. The man, who must have been forty if not older and looking like life had chewed him up and spit him out, was sitting on a mat and surrounded by weapons stacked in reed baskets. He passed her a whetstone. 

“Get started on the kunai,” he told her idly, already turning back to the long katana he was sharpening. 

Sakura glanced around once more and then did so. Better to look busy and useful when she didn’t know where Zabuza was at. People would ignore her like this. Plus it gave her a good view of many of the entrances and she’d know when they returned. Sakura started to sharpen the kunai.

Three hours later her fingers were starting to hurt from the effort but she didn’t slow. People had been coming and going the whole time, a few picking up sharpened blades, a few dropping dull ones off, and Sakura was taking notes. This place, this camp, whatever it was for, was being ran very smoothly. It wasn’t a bunch of people crammed together and told to get along; it was guard rotations, and set tasks like sharpening, and people moving in groups. Sakura could see various groups coming back looking scuffed and she knew it must be training of some sort. A group was by the fire cooking and another man was near enough to use the light to sew patches on a pile of mending. It was organized. Very organized and it changed Sakura’s initial ideas of some half-hearted event, to something big. 

Something was going down in Kiri and Sakura was in the thick of it apparently. 

“Want some soup, Ryuuken?” a woman called

“Please,” her companion nodded, setting his blade down to pop his back in a stretch. 

A woman Sakura recognized from the sleeping area came over balancing two wooden bowls. She offered one to Sakura as well with a faint nod and Sakura took it happily. It was some form of fish soup and Sakura practically inhaled it. 

“Slow down before you choke,” the man said.

Sakura obeyed if just to savor the last bite of rich fish.

“I’m Ryuuken by the way kid. What’s your name?”

Sakura kept her mouth shut. She’d kept her mouth shut for weeks and weeks and weeks now. Even Zabuza and Haku didn’t know her real name and she was starting to trust them. Mei who’d seemed the most trustworthy of the whole group wasn’t going to pry it out of her either. Sakura doubted any of them could do anything with her ordinary civilian family name, or even her personal name, but at this point it was a point of pride for her not to tell.

Sakura might have been a prisoner, first for real and now only in the loosest sense, but she wouldn’t once be called Sakura while being ordered about or while wearing a collar. They wouldn’t use her name to give her orders. It wasn’t much of a victory but Sakura considered it one. Sakura had had to give a lot up, had lost a lot since Gato had captured her, but her name was not one of those things.

“Not even a nickname?” the man asked.

Sakura just ate the rest of her soup in silence. The man didn’t needle her about it and just gave her nod when she started sharpening again. He didn’t ask her any other questions, didn’t ask her why she was here, didn’t ask why she had a collar around her neck, didn’t ask how old she was or anything. Sakura was growing to like him for that reason alone. 

They worked in silence until Zabuza found her. 

Zabuza stood over her, watching her fingers work with his arms crossed, but he didn’t sneer or glower at her so she thought he might approve of how she’d kept busy. 

“Let’s go brat,” Zabuza finally grunted when she finished the blade she’d been working on. 

Her own weapons were sharp and shiny in her own pouch and she was grateful Haku had not taken it back afetr she'd helped slaughter Gato. 

“Come back in two days little Kurogane,” the old man waved at her as she stood, “I have to do this all over again.”

“Jellyfish,” Zabuza muttered, sounding disgusted and turned as Sakura looked at the old man and his nickname. 

The old man winked at her when Zabuza couldn’t see.

“The hair reminds me of the small jellyfish that like the deeper coral reefs. Small and unassuming and vibrant pink. But one touch and…”

He drew his fingers across his throat with a grin. Sakura gave him a tilt of her head and wondered if that was what he really thought of her or if he was teasing. She turned and hurried off after Zabuza with no word on the nickname. 

Zabuza led her to one of the back tunnels and through the cold dark stone before they stepped into an empty cavern. Sakura looked at the training ground, for what else could it be. An empty cave but with driftwood posts and some targets hanging from stalactites. Torches barely lit the area but it was enough to see at least. 

“Let’s go,” Zabuza said, pulling his sword off his back.

Sakura stared at him and he set his sword off to the side before rolling his shoulders and giving her a pointed look. Sakura still stared and he growled impatient. Then he was coming at her. Sakura scrambled back.

“Fight me,” Zabuza barked at her as she tried to put space between them.

Sakura dodged a blow and didn’t dodge one, getting tossed through the air. That was enough to kick up her rage at least and Sakura bared her teeth at Zabuza as she hit the ground. 

“All teeth,” Zabuza snorted, “Show me you can use those teeth, fucking brat.”

Sakura tried to at least. Zabuza went on the defensive as she tried to slam her heel into his face. She was under no delusion that he had switch to defence because she had forced him to, he was simply taking stock of her offense. Sakura tried to hit him, tried ever so hard because it would be so _sweet_ to hit him just once. 

She slammed a fist at his hip and he deflected it with a palm and then kicked her square in the chest. Sakura was learning how to hit the ground right at least. She remembered afternoons with Mizuki-sensei teaching them how to fall over and over again. Sakura thought about all the times she’d fallen in the past months away from Konoha. She was getting better at not letting the fall stun her, was getting better at getting back to her fucking feet and throwing herself back into the fight.

Zabuza struck her once, twice, three times more and Sakura knew she’d have ugly bruises later, but for now she barely let the attacks phase her. Sakura was used to pain these days too, and exhaustion, and so she kept going. 

When Zabuza finally but her on her back hard enough to knock the wind right out of her he dropped his stance as she wheezed.

“Your taijutsu is garbage, Brat,” Zabuza told her, “No speed, no instinct. Your kata are far too neat and it gives you no room to react.”

Sakura glared at him as she laid on the stone and tried to breathe. 

“The only thing you got going for you is your strength,” Zabuza said looking at his arm.

He’d blocked a fist with that arm and Sakura was pleased to see a bruise already blooming there. She brightened at seeing her effort and decided despite his harsh criticism and how easily he’d played her, she was quite pleased. 

That evening Sakura spent nearly an hour after sparring working on her punches. She slammed her fist into driftwood post until it was nearly bloody. She remembered back to Senju Tsunade and her ‘secret’ strength. She tried gathering her chakra in her fists, tried releasing it with every hit and thought the same thing she’d initially thought; it was impossible.

She didn’t stop trying though. 

.--.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a great respect for jellyfish, and a great respect for Sakura.


	7. The Shudder of the Deep

Sakura did everything and anything. She helped cook some days, helped Ryuuken sharpen tools, helped people mend clothes, helped keep the place clean. She got shown to an underwater entrance a week after arriving and was shown how to make her voice echo down the caverns so she could be put on watch duty. 

But her favourite duty was fishing. Being on a rock in the middle of the ocean wasn’t conductive to getting supplies and so the majority of their diet was seaweed, fish, seal, and the little bit of rice and veggies they managed to bring in. And lots and lots of pine needle tea which made her wrinkle her nose. Zabuza had tossed Sakura at the fishing crew one morning, told them her chakra control was decent, and she’d been dragged out into the fog. The men and women who fished tended to be those good with water manipulation. 

One man, armed with only a spear, knew how to breathe underwater somehow (not indefinitely apparently but for long enough) and he tended to dive deep for bigger fish. He showed Sakura the technique which he said a large majority of kiri-nin learned, but whose skill was equal to their chakra control. Most genin he explained could do it for five minutes at most, most jonin up to thirty minutes. Medic-nin, as few and far between as they were in Kiri, could reportedly use it for over an hour.

“Its not really breathing water,” the man explained to her as they rested on the soft rolling surface, “It’s a mix of air and water manipulation. You’re stripping the fine amounts of air right out of the water and using that.”

Sakura tried the technique and though she got it down pretty quickly, how well she used it would rely on too much practice to make her useful with it. 

“Best stay up top right now anyways,” the man told her, “Just being able to breath underwater is useless. There are more than just fish in the water, not counting other dangers like getting lost or succumbing to pressure. Lightings low too. And of course the cold.”

In all he was trying to say the ocean was fucking dangerous. Sakura happily stayed above the waves and left him to his hunting as he used water manipulation to send himself practically flying through the water.

“Stick with us kid,” a woman with a scar bisecting her face told her.

And so Sakura did. She learned how to wield nets and spears for hunting, mostly just an extra body to cover corners or scare fish into the shallows of the rocks. It helped with her chakra control and strength as well, having to balance perfectly on more vicious waters than those in Wave. The ocean here seemed angry amongst all the islands and rocks. 

One day they even taught her how to kill and butcher a seal, every inch of the thing going towards the camp.

“We don’t want to scare the herds off,” a woman told Sakura when she asked why they didn’t go after more than one or two every few days, “Nor deplete them.”

One man also taught Sakura the fog technique Zabuza had used so often. She didn’t have the capacity to wield it well, but as a team they kept up a decent cover to hide themselves. Sakura liked the fishing duty because despite the chill from the wind and the water, it was so nice to be in the fresh air. Sakura had been kept cooped up for so long in Gato’s she’d been afraid to never see the sky again. There was also something … pleasing about using her chakra so freely and frequently. Every day after fishing she’d end up exhausted, limbs shaking from trying to balance so hard and from such a use of chakra. Sakura was careful about how much chakra she used, making herself useful on days her reserves were too low to spend in the open. 

Ryuuken claimed her help whenever he could, making her sit with him as he sharpened blades or when over supplies. He was the one to show her how to sharpen a more than just kunai and shuriken. 

And almost every evening Zabuza dragged her to the training cavern and beat the tar out of her. Ryuuken showed up one evening and Zabuza pointedly ignored the man as he tossed Sakura around. 

“Ha!” Ryuuken laughed as Sakura was wheezing at Zabuza’s feet, “Two students and yet not a single one suited for swords! One would think you didn’t want to pass on your sword technique.”

“Shut up old man,” Zabuza growled.

Sakura looked between Zabuza who had to be close to thirty and the other man who was fortyish. She didn’t think Ryuuken could be called old, but maybe that was just Zabuza being rude. 

“You need to give that girl a good blade though,” Ryuuken continued, unphased, “And nice knife I should think. She’s an up-in-your-face sort of fighter, so she doesn’t need reach. Maybe some brass knuckles to make those hard hits of hers even harder.”

“I’m not teaching her that shit,” Zabuza grunted.

“Well maybe I will then,” Ryuuken said slipping off the rock he was seated on.

“Do whatever you want, old man,” Zabuza sneered.

Sakura watched Zabuza stride off, shoulder’s tense.

“You know him?” Sakura asked.

“Zabuza’s sensei was a friend of mine. He liked to throw his students at me when he was busy,” Ryuuken said, “He’s still mad I kicked his ass so often all those years ago.”

Sakura could believe that. Ryuuken stepped forward and pulled a set of knives from his shirt spinning them so Sakura could take the handles. Sakura stared at the short-curved combat knives that ended in a hilt meant to slid around her knuckles.

“I did say a knife as well as some brass knuckles. This is the best of both worlds. See, you hold it so it faces outwards from yourself.”

Sakura tried holding it like he motioned. 

“Good,” he said. 

And then he showed her how to stand to put strength behind any blows she made. She nearly cut herself a few times, her grip rigid and handle around her knuckles catching her once or twice. When Sakura tried to give them back at the end, Ryuuken just grinned at her. Sakura didn’t know what to say beyond thank you. That night she tucked the knives beside her bed and stared at them even as she drifted off. Zabuza had protected her at Gato’s, he’d even taught her a few tricks, and she was super grateful for that. But actual knives… Sakura felt comforted by their weight in a way she hadn’t in a long time.

Sakura put more effort into her fights, into the sparring. She spent longer working with her knives and even longer trying to release chakra into her blows as she bloodied her knuckles on the training posts. Days passed. And then weeks.

.--.

Sakura tried not to get unnerved by the staring but it was rubbing against her like sandpaper. She hunched further over the cooking pot and resisted the urge to turn and shoot a glare at the man across the cave. He was a newcomer, slipped in with a batch of new Kiri-nin that had arrived in the night a few days ago. Sakura had no idea who he was but she’d seen Mei welcoming him so she knew he should be there at least. 

His observation still pressed against her like a cheese grater though and Sakura wanted to bare her teeth at him. She pulled her coat on tighter, sinking deeper into it. One of the other men watching the food raised a brow at her and her visible discomfort. She shot a glare at him as well.

Sakura was getting used to the situation. Weeks spent cramped in a cave with the same men and women had given her a rough idea of the situation. Sakura had seen how various people left in groups and came back ruffled, how newcomers slipped in in teams. It seemed they were waiting for something, waiting as more and more people joined them. They were running out of room for bedrolls and Sakura had watched a set of men and women use earth jutsu to make a new cave structurally sound so some people could tuck themselves in there.

People were on edge too though. Despite how well organized and ran this camp was, Sakura could sense the way people were on guard. Not like Sakura had felt in Gato’s like they were prisoners or forced here, but almost anticipatory in nature. It reminded Sakura of the moment she’d realized Gato was going to die. It felt sort of like everyone was crouched, ready to spring for a throat at a moment’s notice. 

So while everyone was working together, obviously on the same side, there was tension in the air that made people snappish and rude. Sakura had felt welcomed by some; like Mei, Ryuuken, and a few of the fishers. But others had ignored Sakura completely, a few merely glared at her, and a couple were outright hostile. 

Or maybe that was just Kirri attitude in general. Sakura found these men and woman far more abrasive then most Konoha-nin. Found their mannerisms rougher and both more cautious and more challenging. Like they’d spent so long on high-alert, so long on missions, that they weren’t used to not being so. Sakura remembered what she’d learned of Kiri from the academy, about how it was called the bloody-mist, about how unstable its government was, about how much higher their mortality rate was. Those that survived must have had to run missions back to back to back to keep up with demand. 

Most days Sakura was just as twitchy and rough as the people around her. Sakura felt like she fit right in despite how agitated she’d become these days; still so twitchy and raw after Wave. 

And some days the tension in the air made the hairs raise on the back of her neck. Some days she felt a stare on the back of her neck and it made her want to snap and snarl. She glanced up to the corner of the room as she finished stirring her pot and found the man still watching her. 

She raised her hand in a rude gesture but he didn’t seem to notice despite how he was staring so.

.--.

“A storm is coming,” someone said.

“Best pack it in then.”

Sakura helped roll up the net that had been dragging in the water and watched as the men and women around her gathered the day’s catches. The wind had been particularly strong today and the waves more rough, but Sakura could see no difference beyond their fog.

“Let’s go Kurogane,” the scarred woman glanced at Sakura, “they’ll be sealing up the cave for a storm this strong.”

“How do you know it will be strong?” Sakura asked as she took off after them, running across the waves.

“You can read it in the water and the air,” the woman slanted a gaze across her, “I’ve been meaning to ask; you aren’t from kiri are you? I know you’re with Zabuza but where are you from?”

Sakura kept her mouth shut and the woman simply glanced at her for a long moment as they ran before focusing on her feet. 

“Accent sounds like Fire Country,” the spear-fisher piped in even as he skated across the water, “No idea what you’re doing here kid, but you’re leagues from home.”

Sakura bared her teeth at him and he bared his right back, something like a smile behind it. The rain hit them just as they reached the island. Sakura pulled her hood up higher and followed closely on the teams heels as they made for the entrance. There was a man waiting for them and he checked that that was all of them before following them in. Sakura caught a glimpse of him using an earth jutsu to seal the entrance even as she shimmied down the tunnel.

The cavern sounded louder than usual and Sakura realized it was because nearly everyone was inside now. Usually there were a few teams out, doing what she assumed was surveillance or watch. The entrances had apparently all been sealed for the storm and so there wasn’t even anyone on watch.

“This place would flood unless we sealed everything,” the scarred woman said when Sakura asked, “This used to be a whole system of underwater caves, with a few dry pockets. But Mei-sama shaped some new tunnels and extensions while also changing the shape of the existing tunnels. Then they forced the water out. It’s why this place makes a good camp; no one knows this place exists because up until a month ago it didn’t.”

Sakura helped the team finish butchering their catches and then waited till it was handed over to the cooking team before setting off to find Zabuza. She found him deep in conversation with Mei and a few people she recognized as leaders in this whole thing. Haku, hovering nearby to keep a close eye on Zabuza, gave her a smile but shook his head. Sakura left them. 

Sakura ate thick soup with pieces of fish she’d personally caught that night. Ryuuken gave her some more pointers on her knife-work, but Zabuza didn’t arrive to toss her around. The training cavern was decently full as people looked for something to do, caught in here as they were. Sakura didn’t spend as much time working on her hits as she wanted but accepted it as she retired to the women’s cave. She found a few ladies already in their beds, sleeping soundly and knew that the dark of the cave mixed with long and hard days made people want to curl up as early as possible. 

Sakura copied their lead but found herself staring at the wall as she lay wrapped in her blanket. She stared and stared and stared and sleep would not come in the dark.

The conversation from earlier burned. What was she doing here? What was a Konoha kid doing deep in Kiri in a camp that was obviously planning something big? Sakura thought of Gato, of Yoshiro, of Zabuza. Sakura thought of Mei and her warmth, of the chill of the sea wind. 

Sakura pulled her knives closer and curled in one herself and tried to sleep. She didn’t have much luck.

.--.

The Watching Man was waiting for Sakura when she stepped out of the sleeping quarters. He was leaning against the wall and Sakura didn’t notice him until he grabbed her shoulder. She gave a mix of a snarl and a yelp, trying to rip from his grip, her heart jack rabbiting. 

A woman Sakura didn’t know the name of but recognized as one of the women from the private quarters was at her side in an instant, going for the man’s throat with a kunai. At the same moment Haku was there in a swirl of snow, senbon going for the man’s knees. Sakura was already reacting as well, fist going for his crotch. The man gave a short gasp of shock and then he was shoving himself up the wall, flipping out of reach of the attacks just barely.

“Fuck off,” the purple haired woman growled, her voice so hoarse it was like gravel, “You don’t grab women here like that.”

Sakura’s heart was like a jack rabbit in her chest and it took a long moment to shake off the fear that hunched her shoulders. For the first time in a long time Sakura was very aware of her collar. Sakura heard Haku hiss something and saw Mei striding towards them but she could barely hear anything over the rushing in her ears.

“Breathe kid,” Purple rumbled, “Breathe.”

Sakura sucked in air through her teeth and felt more than saw Purple herding her back down the tunnel to the women’s sleeping area. She was gently pushed onto a bed and her head tucked between her knees. She realized she was shaking like a leaf in the wind. 

A warm hand rested on the nape of her neck, ever so gentle where it overlapped her collar and skin. Copper colored hair spilled near her as someone kneeled beside her. 

“I’m s-sorry,” Sakura choked as she looked up at Mei, “I d-don’t know why I was surprised so bad.”

“Men need to learn to keep their fucking hands to themselves,” Purple snarled, watching Sakura but with her posture tilted towards the door.

“He shouldn’t have ambushed you like that,” Mei agreed, “Especially right outside of here where I promised that every woman they would be safe.”

Mei stroked her hair and Sakura shied away from that touch. Without missing a beat Mei let her hands drop gracefully. 

“Nano meant no harm,” Mei said, “Doesn’t mean he’s not an idiot but I promise he meant no harm.”

“He’s been watching me,” Sakura said.

“A monumental idiot,” Mei scowled, “I will make him apologize.”

“Why did he grab me?”

“He wanted to show you something,” Mei said.

Sakura stayed seated until her shaking abated. She was ashamed at how she’d overreacted to a grab like that but it had sent her spiralling right back to Gato’s. She did feel a slight sting of pride as she remembered attacking back on instinct. It had taken effort to stop from immediately cowering to attacking first as a reaction. 

Sakura finally sucked in a sharp breath and shook her hands out as if trying to shake the lingering traces of fear away. Purple watched her through all of it like a silent guard. 

“Come find me tomorrow,” the woman finally said when Sakura was calm, voice like rocks scraping.

“Okay,” Sakura nodded. 

Mei had left them and Sakura found out why when she emerged from the tunnel. The Watching Man was dangling from her fist and looking like a kicked dog. 

“Apologize,” Mei said blandly giving the man a harsh shake.

“I should not have grabbed you. I’m sorry,” the man said looking to Sakura.

“Do it again and I’ll stab you,” Sakura said, giving him the fiercest scowl she’d learned from Zabuza. 

He nodded as Mei gave him another shake. The woman dropped him giving him a flat look and he cringed away, nodding to some unspoken conversation. 

“Nano would like to talk to you,” Mei said, “He has sworn that he will not touch you again.”

“Only if we stay here,” Sakura said, not looking around even as she felt eyes on them.

The man, Nano was nodding, a smile already starting to appear. Mei gave Sakura a look over his shoulder that said it would be okay. They both watched Mei walk away before Sakura turned to Nano.

“What do you want?” she asked rudely.

“I’m a chakra sensor,” Nano said, “A good one. I’ve been paying attention to your chakra use.”

“So?” Sakura asked bluntly.

“Well,” Nano said with a tilt of his head, “Your chakra control, it’s phenomenal.”

Sakura stared at him.

“I don’t think you understand,” Nano said with a wave of his hand, “The tight control you have, how little chakra you use for jutsu familiar to you; it’s amazing. Stunning. Beautiful. I could watch you do it all day.”

Sakura still stared. 

“Is it natural?” the man asked, “Or were you conditioned for it? Is it a family trait?”

Sakura scowled and kept her bloody mouth shut. She was getting really good at that. He seemed to lose some excitement as he realized she wasn’t about to reveal all her secrets.

“Are you a genjutsu specialist?” he asked instead, and his tone was a little more even, less rambly. 

Sakura kept her mouth shut again. Said nothing of how her academy instructors had nudged her in that direction, how she had mastered the academy level ones quickly and easily. She hadn’t been put on a team with a genjutsu specialist sensei though and no one had offered her any teachings.

“Will you let me teach you some?” he asked.

“Why?” Sakura narrowed her eyes.

“Watching you work is…breathtaking,” he said.

She side eyed him harshly wondering if this was something weird. But he simply gazed back.

“Okay,” she finally said, because she would never turn down free training again, even from a creep.

And Zabuza was watching. He was talking to Mei and some men but she could feel his attention and it made her relax against all odds.

“Can you sense chakra?”

Sakura winced. She could when used in big enough quantities or she was close enough. But she’d never been a good senor. 

“Watch this then,” he said.

He shaped his hands into a series of signs and Sakura marked them in her mind.

“It’s a genjutsu,” he said unneeded (she’d picked that up from the first four signs), “But it’s an open one.”

“An open one?”

“Certain genjutsu do exactly as they should, they’re rigid with very little flexibility. Camouflage genjutsu are the best example; they make you disappear and that’s it. But open genjutsu, they’re harder in a way, it’s up to you to shape them. This genjutsu is meant to make the target thing are seeing things out of the corner of their eye. What they see is up to you. A Genjutsu master would have them seeing their darkest fears, a novice might just make them think they can see something moving.”

He did the signs again and Sakura didn’t fight it as it weaved itself over her. In the corner of her eye, as long as she tried not to focus on it, a small dark shadow flickered. Sakura flexed her chakra, too slight to be a flare but just precise enough to dismiss the genjutsu.

“Oh,” the man said eyes widening, “That was beautiful.”

She gave him an odd look and turned to her own hands. She made the signs and let her chakra rise and weave in the pattern of a genjutsu. The man briefly stiffened, his eyes gaining a slight gaze as he tilted his head as if trying to follow movement.

“Good,” he said hazily

Nano dismissed it. 

“Again,” he told her, “But less chakra. Try to put as little as possible into it.”

If her last genjutsu had been like weaving chakra with her hands, this time it was like stitching. Sakura wove her genjutsu with less chakra but with more care.

“Again,” the man said, breathlessly reaching for her.

“Don’t touch me,” Sakura snapped.

He drew his hands back but looked at her still. Sakura did it again and again and again. Until it was like sewing, like weaving a cloth instead of a net; stitches so fine they were indistinguishable.

“Amazing,” Nano said, eyes glazed as he stared at her hands like he was looking through them, “It’s like a work of art. Do it again.”

So Sakura did. She couldn’t put any less chakra into her technique, but she wove it differently, sinking into her own genjutsu to carefully craft the way the shadows moved. She moved from shadows to teeth to eyes until there was a creature watching her from the corner of the room. She made the man see claws and fangs and eyes and snouts. Made him see creatures he feared in the dusk that hunted men. Like slivers of shadow in the moonlight. He never once looked away from her hands and she supposed faintly that while she could cast genjutsu on him, that a man with such chakra sensing abilities would not be fooled. He could see beyond the chakra of course. 

“Again,” the man begged.

But Sakura’s hands were shaking and her chakra was getting low.

“Show me another tomorrow,” she said instead.

Nano smiled at her. Sakura spent extra time with the training post that night despite how busy the room was. Her fist hurt a little less than usual as she pounded the wood. And when she lifted her knuckles away, faint cracks were spiderwebbing out across the wood. 

.--.

Sakura found Zabuza and Haku even in the dark and knew she’d woke a few of the more paranoid shinobi on her way over, but she found she didn’t care. Haku held his blankets open in an invitation and she took it. But in the darkness she reached her arm out, squirming it under other covers. Zabuza gripped her wrist and Sakura relaxed instantly at the hold. 

Haku curled around her like she was a small lap dog to cuddle and she allowed it, burrowing her face into his chest and keeping her teeth tucked behind her lips. Zabuza’s grip on her wrist wasn’t light but it didn’t hurt. Somewhere above them a storm raged. But Sakura couldn’t hear anything other than Haku’s heartbeat. Sakura drifted off to the sense of safety.

.--.


	8. Prepare for the Storm

Sakura remembered her words and tracked Purple down the next day. The woman didn’t even let Sakura open her mouth just dragged her to the training cavern. 

“I’m going to show you what to do when someone grabs you,” Purple said, voice like gravel.

“Okay,” Sakura said tentatively, “I learned to break holds in the academy.”

“Not taijutsu holds,” Purple said, “grabbing.”

And so she did. Purple showed her how to break out of most non-taijutsu holds and Sakura learned. She also learned that while she had at one point had crisp neat katas, she had not learned flexibility until Zabuza. She learned that she still automatically retaliated with certain moves that could actually be ineffectual without the ability to adapt during an attack. Zabuza, she also realized with a sort of growing awe, was teaching her that adaptability every night he forced her to fight him at full strength and by not going easy on her. Sparing with Team Seven and the academy had been gentle sparing, where people pulled back and thus, Sakura never really had to learn flexibility of her attacks because it never ended in pain. By attacking her fully, Zabuza was forcing her to do so. 

Purple went a completely different route; it was not about adapting and responding. It was about escaping. It was about getting _free_. And when Sakura had that down, then Purple showed her how to get back at them. This wasn’t fighting, this was sheer revenge. Purple didn’t show her where to disable or kill, she showed Sakura where to hit to make it _hurt_.

Sakura was exhilarated. 

“You get out, and then you make them regret everything,” Purple growled voice harsh.

Purple’s shirt collar had pulled back at some point to show a ropey vivid scar across her throat. Like someone had tried to slit it. It looked painful but Purple didn’t seem to notice as she showed Sakura how to castrate a man, how to rip his eyes out, how to cut his tongue off, how to skin his fingers. 

“Get out. Then make it hurt,” Sakura smiled at her. 

.--.

“Like this,” Ryuuken said and twisted his wrist. 

Sakura copied him best she could and her knife slashed through the air. 

“You’re getting it now little Kurogane,” he crowed, “I knew they would suit you and you proved me right. Don’t you think so too Zabuza?”

Sakura hefted the knives, enjoying the weight of them, the reassurance of the metal across hr knuckles. She looked up at Zabuza who leaned against the wall, silent. He must have slipped in earlier but Sakura hadn’t noticed. 

“Gave the little jellyfish a pair of stingers,” Ryuuken said proudly, “I can’t wait to see how you kill men with them.”

Sakura thought of Yoshiro and how he would have looked gutted by her knives. She gave Ryuuken her sweetest smile, wide-eyed and butter-soft. He grinned right back at her. 

“May I see Sakura?”

Sakura looked up at Haku who wore a pretty smile. She looked at him in askance and he smiled even as senbon slid into his hands. Sakura slid into position. The fight was quick; Haku was a boy of speed and while Sakura wasn’t, her reflexes were getting better. So they were quick and because of that the fight was quick, started quick and over quick. Haku didn’t seem upset by how quickly Sakura fell; she’d been training for the past hour with Ryuuken and working all day besides that. And Haku had her beat in speed alone so yeah.

Sakura sat on the ground and tried to tame her panting into deep breaths. Ryuuken had left when the fight finished but Zabuza was still watching her, arms crossed. 

“You’re getting much better,” Haku told her.

“Still not good enough,” Zabuza snorted.

“Fuck you,” Sakura said almost reflexively. 

He snorted at her and let his arms uncross. He strode over, like a predator stalking his prey, and Sakura stayed sitting but she kept her knives in hand. He eyed the blades and her tense posture as he stopped right in front of her, looming. 

“Good. You’re not stupid,” he said looking at her defensive posture.

“Fuck you,” Sakura repeated. 

“Just don’t think you’re safe here,” he told her, “I saw you falling for Mei’s sweet words and Ryuuken’s friendliness.”

Sakura crumpled her face in a sneer she’d copied from him and didn’t voice the thought that the other night curled around Haku and with her wrists tucked in Zabuza’s hand had been the safest she’d felt while here. Sakura didn’t spit at Zabuza’s feet and tell him they were all Kiri nin. Sakura didn’t tug wordlessly at the collar she still wore. 

Zabuza was mistaking her open nature for comfort. He was thinking that because she actually spoke to people here, didn’t cling to him, that she felt safe. While Sakura could grudgingly admit she was starting to trust Mei a bit more, that didn’t mean she trusted a single one of the others. Sakura hadn’t had the best time with pretty or friendly faces recently; she thought of Yoshiro and shuddered. That man had barely touched her and yet he would be a scar for a long time to come. But no, Sakura wasn’t falling for any friendliness showed by these men and women. 

Sometime it would have been easier to pretend that she was safe here, but Sakura wasn’t good at pretending these days; Sakura knew she was right in a boiling pot full of enemies. 

“I’m not an idiot,” Sakura told Zabuza.

“Good,” he eyed her, “They may seem nice but….”

“What Zabuza is saying,” Haku said gently, “Is that Kiri has suffered a lot of political, cultural, and economic upheaval over the past few decades. Mortality rates are high there and Kiri-nin don’t have the …resources of places like Konoha. Konoha is lucky as a ninja village because it’s always been very stable. Even after having the Kyuubi released on it over a decade ago, it bounced back quick enough no one could take advantage. Kiri instead has always been on the knife-edge of ruin. And the men and women of Kiri balance on their own knife-edge in that environment.”

They were all crazy he was saying just nicer.

“Ryuuken likes to fight children,” Zabuza grunted, “Say’s they’re more interesting to fight, more imaginative. But he doesn’t play with his food for long and he tends to put his opponents down with broken bones.”

Sakura thought of how happily Ryuuken taught her, of the knives at his own waist. She could see that, had seen it in fact.

“I won’t fight him then,” Sakura shrugged.

“And the sensor, the one that’s been teaching you jutsu,” Zabuza sneered, “Word is he likes to kill pretty things. He likes to watch their chakra fade away.”

And Sakura could definitely see that. The bastard was creepy and if he wasn’t helping teach her so many useful little jutsu and chakra tricks she’d avoid him like the plague. But Mei had promised he meant her no harm and Sakura made sure their lessons were near witnesses. 

“And Mei seems nice,” Zabuza added, arms crossing again, “But she’s the devil.”

“Do I hear you besmirching my honor?”

“You ain’t got none,” Zabuza growled even as he turned to face Mei. 

Mei gave a soft sweet smile but Sakura was learning that that expression on people never meant well. Even Haku’s beautiful smiles were tinged with blood and violence. Sakura had practiced her own such smile and knew it still made her look so young and soft and _innocent_. Maybe it would make people look away from her teeth and her knives.

“Sakura,” Mei said, tone still sweet, “Would you like to hear the time Zabuza fainted and I had to carry him princess style.”

Zabuza choked in surprise and Sakura gave a breathless sort of noise that might have been called a laugh. She pushed herself to her feet and took Mei’s offered hand. 

“You see we were on this mission…”

Sakura cast a glance at Zabuza over her shoulder and he snarled at her. She stuck her tongue out at him instead of thanking him for looking out for her.

.--.

“Just like that,” Nano sighed happily.

Sakura didn’t look at his face or his pleased grin as she wove her chakra so fine she barely put a drop into the jutsu. It felt like pricking her finger, let out a drop of blood, and then weaving that drop into the finest cloth. Sakura let her chakra seep into the earth, sew through it, and then the earth moved around her. She cut the chakra off before she sunk beneath the stone like it was water.

“You must be earth natured,” Nano said, “It shines so brightly with your chakra.”

Sakura thought he might be right. She was still working on aligning her chakra to the earth but I was much easier than any other so far. Water was the next easiest but that might be because she’d worked with it so often recently. Besides, fine chakra control could make up for not being perfectly able to use nature chakra. 

Sakura let her chakra slip into the earth without the directive of a jutsu and it was harder, but still doable. The stone beneath her feet shifted but did not move and Sakura frowned as she tried to align her chakra and the earth.

“Work on nature chakra another time,” he whined, “Do another jutsu.”

“Teach me another,” Sakura demanded in return.

He did hand signs without anymore prompting and Sakura picked apart the signs to look at the water jutsu.

“It pulls water,” Sakura said tilting her head, “From the ground?”

“From the air,” Nano said, “It will be easy with the moisture in the air here.”

And so Sakura did it. Water splashed at her feet and she was glad they were in the training grounds and not near the tents or beds. She looked at the tiny puddle and did the signs again. Nano sighed happily and crouched, head rested in his hands propped on his knees. He watched her dreamily, eyes as glazed as usual. If she didn’t know he was watching her chakra instead of physically form she’d think he was high with how hazy he was. 

Sakura practiced the jutsu a few more time before standing. Nano tried to protest, willing to show her another just to watch how she weaved her chakra, but Sakura shook her head. Sakura watched him almost stager off to go watch another set of nin training in the corner. She wondered why he liked to live his life looking at what other people couldn’t see instead of looking at reality. He blinded himself to everything but chakra and she was a tad creeped out by his obsession in watching people use it. 

Sakura shook the thoughts away and turned to the driftwood posts. She lifted her fist and eyed it critically. The cracks that radiated out when she hit the post were staying the same size. She was on the right path but she was hitting a wall. She tried to narrow her chakra, tried to figure out this stupid technique. And each session doing this strengthened her naturally anyways. Sakura wanted to be strong enough to crush a mountain, but she’d settle for now with being able to crush a man’s skull.

.--.

“Hey.”

Sakura looked up at her relief. The man was tall and lanky in a way that didn’t seem natural. Bloodline she thought idly as he yawned, sharp teeth glinting. She had yet to ask if people just sharpened their teeth in kiri or if that many of them were born with them.

“Is that Kaita’s spear?” the man yawned again.

She held the tall sharp spear out. 

“He said to pass it you,” she said standing up.

She unfolded from her crouch and stretched, popping her spine. 

“Thanks,” he grunted flopping down to lean against the wall, facing towards the pool of water that led to a tunnel out of the cave, “Good luck in the madhouse.”

“The madhouse?” she wrinkled her nose. 

He waved her off. Sakura shrugged and picked her way carefully down the curving tunnel. She had to step softly or her footsteps would be sent echoing into the main cavern. It was good in case a shout had to be raised but sucked when it projected your coming and going to every person in camp. Sakura had gotten enough sneers the first time she’d made a clatterer returning. 

Because of the way the cave was carved out, the tunnel sent echoes down from the watch spot, but did not return them from the main cavern. That was why Sakura didn’t notice the racket until she was nearly inside the main area. Sakura stepped out of the tunnel cautiously, eyes sharp and ready as she heard the clatter of lots of movement. She found the whole cavern moving like a hill of ants, people running here and there, weapons and supplies being tossed about, voices being thrown. 

Sakura sidled around the edge of the cavern, eyes trying to find familiar faces. She spotted Zabuza in the middle of the chaos of course. Sakura eyed the roiling crowd of people and took a breath before braving it to cut across the room. She made it to Zabuza mostly unruffled and nearly flattened herself against the back of his legs to avoid someone stumbling by with a whole barrel of weapons. Zabuza doesn’t even glance at her, just keeps talking to Mei.

“-from the North,” Mei is saying, lips in a firm line.

“Fuck that,” Zabuza growled, “I’ll be with you.”

“You’re an idiot,” Mei said like it was a simple fact, “Fine. You can be on the Western assault. Now, I think you have something else to do.”

She looked down at Sakura and Sakura pressed her lips together in a serious expression. She thinks she knows what’s happening and Sakura has already made her mind up on everything. She looks at Mei head on and Mei holds her gaze for a long moment before tilting her head; not so much acceptance as understanding.

Zabuza finally looked at her, flat dark eyes slanting down at her as if completely disinterested even though she can see he’s fully focused on her. Mei wandered away and left Zabuza and Sakura with locked gazes.

“Got some stuff to do,” Zabuza finally grunted, “You’ll stay here with some runners.”

“I’m coming with you,” Sakura said.

“No you’re not.”

“Yes I am.”

Zabuza glared at her but she gazed back with a flat calm look. Sakura raised a hand and thumbed at her collar.

“I’m your hunting bitch,” Sakura said, “You can’t go hunting without me.”

Something harsh settled over his face, his lisp tilted up in a sneer. He reached out and wrapped his hand around the collar yanking her forward and up until she stood on her tiptoes, straining against the hold. 

“Maybe you’re not good enough Brat,” Zabuza.

“Everyone’s good enough to die,” she bared her teeth.

His eye twitched, lips peeling back in a snarl, but he didn’t let go of her collar. They glared at each other for a long silent moment.

“Zabuza,” Haku murmured as he joined them, eyes on Zabuza’s hand and Sakura’s neck where they were connected. 

“Fine,” Zabuza spat. “Gear up for war, Brat.” 

.--.


	9. Red Tide

Haku offered her a hand but Sakura went straight to Zabuza. She didn’t even wait for permission, just lugged herself up his back, using chakra to stick herself to his sword. The amount of chakra she used to do this was so miniscule it barely registered on anyone’s sense. Sakura had worked hard on her chakra control for the past weeks with Nano feeding her techniques every time she got it low enough. The only reason she wasn’t water-walking beside everyone was because she was too physically slow. 

Zabuza growled at her but didn’t dislodge her. Sakura gripped his shoulders with hands dwarfed by his large shoulders and gave him a side-eye. He didn’t look at her. Mei did and she looked very amused even under the grim look. 

Sakura stood on Zabuza’s back and watched silently as men and women left the cave in teams, some large, some small and darted off into the mist the men at Mei’s side were keeping up. Left right, center, people were darting out, faces carved in grim purpose, weapons strapped where they were easy to reach, and bloodlust tamped down with their chakra. Behind Mei stood a guard of people who Sakura knew were some of the strongest people they had been camped out with.

“Ready?” Mei asked Zabuza as the men and women streamed out around them.

“I’ve been waiting a decade for this,” Zabuza bared his teeth.

Mei clasped his shoulder, hand close enough Sakura could see the way she was white-knuckled. 

“We’ll win,” Mei said shortly but voice full of conviction. 

The stream of people finally stopped leaving their party quiet.

“You know the plan,” Mei called to her team, “The other teams are running distraction by hitting the docks. We’re hitting them hard and fast, dead center of the main port. We’re cutting our way to the heart of the village as quick as we can while everyone else raises a ruckus. We have a few inside teams that will wait for our signal before engaging. Everyone on our side knows the call-sign.”

Mei flicked her hand through a few symbols and Sakura memorized them quickly. 

“Are you ready?” Mei asked her people.

“Yes!” they roared.

“Then let’s make the Bloody Mist bleed one last time!” Mei said with a wide grin.

And then they were off. Sakura slid down Zabuza’s back and sword enough the spray was out of her face and subtly circulated her chakra, checking her blades and her gear one last time as they hurtled across the waters towards the Village Hidden in the Mist.

.--.

They hit the docks before dawn and even the water was silent and still. Sakura barely dared breath as they ghosted across the water, wind and water still under their feet, not a noise creaking from them. Zabuza didn’t set her down on the dock even as they slipped through the fog past oblivious civilian fishermen. Sakura clung to him and didn’t move a muscle. 

There were patrols of course but Mei and Zabuza and the group slipped past them like they were blind. Most didn’t notice them, but one or two of the patrol had sharp eyes as if they were looking for something. These ones nodded at Mei and turned the other way. Sakura watched their backs and wondered at the size of Mei’s army; how many were from the caves and how many had stayed in the Village?

“Brat,” Zabuza said so lowly it was quieter than his breathing. 

Sakura leaned up, face so close to his neck she could practically hear his pulse.

“You’re look-out,” he said silently, “Get on the roof.”

Sakura dropped from his shoulders silently. Nano had taught her well, more than happy to pour jutsu into her as long as he could watch. Sakura let her fingers twist in a half sign and felt her chakra weave itself loosely about her shoulders like a cloak. The Chameleon genjutsu had its limits, but with the shadows of dawn and mist everywhere, Sakura was nearly invisible if she kept silent. She shimmied up the closest wall up onto clay roofs and watched as others in the group peeled away from the main force as well. 

Zabuza rolled his shoulders, something shifting in his posture and Mei looked at him, flashing a grin that had far too many teeth. Sakura watched their silent exchange, saw something that might have been love, might have been repressed rage, pass between their gazes. They had a moment in the shadows, feet firmly planted on Kiri territory, practically bristling with repressed chakra. They might have said something but she was too far away to hear. 

The world stood still. 

The explosion that ripped through the North was loud and bright and violent. Sakura felt the blast ruffle her hair, felt the noise like a physical thing and breathed with it. Then she kicked off on silent feet because everyone else was darting into the city. 

Between one moment and the next the city awoke, and the war began.

.--.

The fighting was quick and vicious and out of her way. Despite the high traffic the roofs saw, the fighting was done down in the narrow stone streets. The roofs made of clay made for bad footing which was probably part of its defence and so despite the fact many clashes met on the rooftop, they all fell into the streets. 

Sakura stayed high, clung to the slowly disappearing shadows. Her genjutsu held and one man nearly took her head off with his foot as he ran right over top of her never noticing her there. Sakura followed along the eaves as quick and quietly as she could, flaring her chakra precisely every time a new enemy came hurtling towards the street she watched. Zabuza and Haku below her were slogging through the enemies like it was a mere annoyance. Haku was always quickest to respond to her flare, eyes turning upwards to new incoming enemies. He was also the one who sent a barrage of ice senbon at any senor who noticed Sakura, pulling them into battle while Sakura changed course and hid behind chimneys or window ledges or such. 

Zabuza merely roared, word lost in rage and glee as he butchered his way through Kirigakure. Sakura watched the flash of his blade, the ripple of his muscle, and felt that the few ninja who took one look at him and fled were the wise ones. Zabuza was easy to recognize and while some mobbed him in hope of a victory, just as many fled or threw down arms. In the distance Sakura could hear the howl of battle, could hear explosions and the clash of jutsu, could smell the smoke on the air. 

There was a spike of chakra somewhere below her, earth flavored in a way that she had grown familiar with trying to learn manipulation under Nano. 

Sakura risked creeping forward, risked looking over the edge as she clung to clay tiles with the barest wisp of chakra. The battle below raged as a variety of men lunged at Zabuza and Haku. Despite their numbers they were slowly losing of course, Haku and Zabuza a force to be reckoned with when moving in tandem. Sakura watched them decimate the men, stopping them from rushing forwards into the center of the village. The sound of distance clashes echoes down the narrow street. 

Sakura’s eyes caught movement out of place and she snapped her head to look behind the battle. A man slowly rose from the ground like a wraith, clawing his way out of the earth to raise his blade at Zabuza’s unprotected back. Zabuza, his blade locked with another man’s, didn’t seem to notice the threat and Sakura recognized the haze of a genjutsu around him. 

Sakura screamed, a sharp panicked noise, and Zabuza jerked back at the noise. The sword about to erupt through his spine missed and scored a long heavy line across his side. His grunt was drowned out by Sakura’s enraged howl and she fell from the roof onto the man with a fury that burned. Her feet slammed into his shoulders and her knives went into his neck from either side, like a bird of prey spearing a mouse. He dropped wordlessly and Zabuza was stumbling back, away from his blade. Hot blood rushed from his side but he slapped a free hand over it and ignored it to cleave a man in two. 

Haku fell on their opponents like a snow-storm, all silent rage and unstoppable force as he sucked the moisture from the air to turn into wicked spears of ice. Sakura bared her blade and her teeth in equal measure and one man faltered at the sight of her. She gave him no time to regret that and spun towards him. Fury and adrenaline drove her, and Sakura flashed her knives and her genjutsu freely. The genjutsu she’d learned at Nano’s hands were down so pat she could manage some with only half a hand sign, one she could do even around her knife handles. 

Sakura made her opponents see things just out of there corners of their eyes, like blades and enemies and shadows moving, made them think her a foot to the left of where she truly was, made them think she was getting faster, bigger, quicker. She wielded these genjutsu to make her opponents doubt their senses, simple things to throw them off that barely took any of her effort of focus. It was the edge she needed to continue charging forwards against opponents she once would never have challenged. 

She slammed her knuckle dusters into a man’s chest and felt his bones snap before a hand on the back of her shirt was hauling her back.

“Back to the rooftop!” Zabuza ordered her, “We go North!”

He tossed her into the air carelessly and Sakura tucked and flipped through the air until she could dig fingers into stone. She obeyed, scaling a wall until she was back on a roof. She ran as Zabuza did, mirroring him and Haku from way up high. Haku bound across window frames until he was on the opposite side of the street.

A man with the same idea of a bird’s eye view came hurtling at Sakura but she barely paused, using her small size to her advantage to tuck and roll under his offense and slam her knife into his ankle. He went down screaming. He wouldn’t be standing and she was already running again. She wrapped a genjutsu around herself again, hid herself from first glance and leapt clear over an alley and the world was a chorus of fighting and the blood rushing in her ears. 

She was focused on her feet, focused on what was in front of her and focused on Zabuza down below so she did not get separated. Perhaps this is why she missed the boulder that came hurtling down towards her. She yelped and dove just intime for the rock to take out half the roof and continue going, rolling off the roof to nearly crush men below.

“What’s this? A little mouse,” someone said.

Sakura rolled left, right, and then leapt, small clay spikes erupting around her, manipulated from the tiles to try and impale her. She looked up at the man attacking her and had to look up and up and up. He was huge. Taller than any man she’d ever seen before, and absolutely rippling in muscle. He was grinning, an ugly expression on an ugly face. 

“And already collared,” the man wheezed a laughter, crude sword in one hand and the other twisted in a hand sign, “Are you lost, pet? Want to come home with me?”

Sakura snarled, loud and vicious, baring her teeth and drew both of her knives. She didn’t allow any of her fear to show, didn’t allow her hands to tremble or her mind to shy away from this. Sakura looked at the man, seven feet of solid rippling muscle and reminded herself the bigger they were, the harder they fell. 

The first blow of his sword she dodged by a hair, used to dodging Zabuza’s swinging blade. The roof behind her crumbled and shattered like glass from the blow and Sakura knew if she got hit even once he’d break her in two. ‘The more muscle the less flexible,’ Sakura told herself as she dodged, always by a hair’s width, getting close enough to score a few desperate slashes as she twisted and flipped. She nearly lost her footing as they abruptly hit the roof edge. Sakura dodged dangerously, desperately leaping to another rooftop. He was trying to drag her down into the streets like every other fight but Sakura knew she needed to stay up in the open. She didn’t know these streets, knew they were infested with enemy, and they would severely limit her dodging range. 

Generally, a nice narrow street would hinder a huge man with a bigger sword, would stop his swings and make his fighting stiff and limited. But with the strength he was displaying he’d simply swing through walls to get her. 

“A quick little mouse,” the man laughed, deranged, “I want to ty you up and drag you around. I’d find you a pretty leash to match your hair. You’d like it.”

Sakura shuddered and faintly in the back of her mind wondered if there men out there that weren’t complete creeps. She briefly thought of the chain Zabuza used to drag her by, the one Gato had held out like a whip. Then she thought of Yoshiro choking the death, the way her hands had twisted it. 

“The last man to leash me died,” she said, “Just like you will!”

She lunged in, ducked his blow, and slammed her fist and knife handle knuckled dusters into his chest. She heard and felt the snap of bone, a rib being broken, but he just laughed at the blow, smacking her hard enough to send her flying. 

Sakura yelped as she slid across broken tile, skin breaking as clay shards cut like glass. She was on her feet a moment later, just in time to duck a blow. She rolled between his legs, blade hamstringing him. He roared with pain and tried to simply throw himself on her. She dodged. Well, she dodged him. 

Doton spikes made of clay and stone roof went for her throat. Sakura threw herself backwards and only a moment later realized she’d thrown herself off the roof as well. She hit the ground hard, screaming as her ankle rolled. 

“Little mouse,” the man growled a she followed, his collision with the ground nearly sending Sakura off her feet, “I’m going to squish you.”

The walls moved with his hands and Sakura dodged being flattened by a hair’s width, ankle screaming with pain as she hobbled back out of range. She’d lost one of her knives but had one still in hand. She tried to climb a wall, tried to get back into the open air but he sent a rolling of spikes through the wall. Sakura threw a brace of shuriken as she fell and he roared, too caught up in trying to pursue her to have time to dodge. Sakura bounced off another wall, using her hands as much as she could to alleviate the pain in her feet as she redirected upwards. 

His hand wrapped around her hurt ankle and tossed her clear of the wall. She was lucky she thought even as she cried out from the pain, that he had not simply crushed her ankle. She flipped mid-air aiming to land on her feet, mainly her unhurt one and saw her mistake too late. He had tossed her in that direction for a reason. 

Sakura screamed unable not to as her feet were ripped to ruin, doton made caltrops spread unerringly where she landed. She fell back, dry sobbing and heaving with pain, barely able to see straight. 

The man laughed at her, leaning over her to grab the back of her collar. He lifted her in the air and her crying cut off with her air. She struggled vaguely and he leaned in close, breath rolling across her face.

“Yes, I think I will keep you little mouse. But without pesky feet or hands to run away with.”

He lifted his blade, grinning. But he’d made a mistake. He was focused on her face, focused on watching her pain and fear. He’d forgotten he had tried to keep her at a distance this whole battle. Sakura didn’t hesitate. Even through the pain and fear she was quick and steady. She slashed with conviction, her last knife held in a white knuckled grip. His throat parted easily, almost gently. He gurgled one breath, eyes wide with shock and then hit the ground hard enough stone cracked under his body.

Sakura dropped, crying with the pain of it. She dragged herself on her knees to a corner, just out of sight of the rooftops of the main stretch of streets. She curled in on herself and reached for her feet. Her fingers were shaking so badly she could barely pull out the last of the caltrops, the last stone shards. She retched from the pain. Her sandals were shredded, and she pulled them off vision blurred with tears. She ended up tearing strips out of her shirt to try and desperately wrap them. The bindings worked enough to hold her skin together but her hands were covered in blood by the end. She was lucky her sandals, good Konoha make, had protected her enough she even had feet left. 

Sakura emptied her stomach again as she tried to stand. Standing on her feet sent bolts of pain so harsh up her legs she could barely stay upright. But she had to move. She had to. There was the sound of steps, a man coming around the corner with a sword drawn. He barely even looked at Sakura before a sword erupted out of his back. 

“Kid!”

Sakura flinched, the pain throwing her off balance but her knives still in hand. It was Purple, splattered in blood and looking absolutely crazed, the corpse sliding off her katana. She’d followed the bloody footprints Sakura had left to her hidden corner.

“Let’s go,” Purple growled.

She scooped Sakura up, threw her on her back and they were running. Sakura clung with chakra and sheathed her last knife. Her free hand liberally threw kunai and shuriken to try and clear the path as Purple vaulted them over a roof, past a battle and towards the centre of the village. There was an explosion somewhere, so loud Sakura couldn’t hear anything but ringing for a moment. She ran out of kunai and dipped into Purple’s pouch to take a man down. 

They reached the center, reached what must be the Kage tower, and Sakura screamed as a stream of lava splashed over their heads, so close she could feel the searing heat. Her chakra control lapsed, startled in fear and Sakura tried to recover by flipping off of Purple’s back. She caught herself on a wall. Her feet hit it instinctively at the same time as her hand and nearly ripped her arm out of the socket trying to hold herself up by her one hand, trying instinctively to get the soles of her feet away from the wall and one hand still clutching her knife. She dropped and felt a splinter of pain so intense she couldn’t even scream as her feet hit the ground. 

She must have blacked out with the pain for a brief second because she was sobbing breathlessly and curled in a ball when she regained her senses. She retched to the side. 

“Get up Kid!” Purple roared at her, deflecting a katana as a man came at her. 

Sakura got up despite the splintering pain coming up her legs. If she didn’t get up she would die. Sakura unsheathed her knives and tried to keep her breathing even, or at least not heavying sobs. Sakura went hard and fast, spinning at the opponent and helping Purple beat him back by harrying him low with her knives. Purple ended up decapitating him before grabbing Sakura under her arm.

“I have to help Mei,” Purple grumbled low and hoarse, “You’re on your own kid.”

She dropped Sakura on a rooftop, left Sakura her pouch of kunai and went diving back into the square. Now that Sakura could see from above, she realized the street was a disaster of ripped up stone, overturned walls, broken buildings, and a swarm of people, all screaming and roaring as they clashed. The air was full of smoke and steam and mist; smoke bombs and tags, steam from where water kept hitting the roiling lava pits, mist because this was Mist Village.

Sakura managed to push herself against a brick alcove, hid herself enough that she was shadowed from first glance. Then she pulled out her kunai and targeted those she knew for absolute surety were not on her side. Which mainly meant anyone going for Purple. 

She was nearly knocked off her roof as a huge water dragon slammed into the structure out of nowhere. A second later Mei was leaping to the base under Sakura’s wide eyes and ripping Zabuza out of the clash of water. Zabuza hacked and coughed but his sword was back in hand. The two of them were off like a shot after what looked like a kid standing at the end of the street. Under Sakura’s disbelieving eyes the kid spun a black staff and with a splash of water threw both Mei and Zabuza away.

The kid came at them hard and fast, face flat and Sakura suddenly recognized his face. 

“The Mizukage,” Sakura whispered with a white knuckled grip on a kunai. 

Sakura looked down on the battle and realized Zabuza and Mei were going full tilt at the fucking Mizukage. And neither were gaining ground.


	10. Red Dawn

Mei’s guards were jumping in and out of the battle, harrying the man who threw water around like it was fucking air. Sakura hid herself in a shadow and clung to the roof, unable to do much else as sudden huge waves of water were being tossed around the square. Mei was spitting lava, the heat intense enough to feel from up above, the steam it made colliding with the water harsh enough to burn a man. Sakura watched this clash of titans and did her best to simply cling to her spot and hide. 

She touched her kunai pouch, but it was empty except for one she kept to use up-close. She had a few shuriken left but she knew that would do nothing. Sakura was…she was…

Sakura was done. She was seeing black spots, so tired she could fall asleep among this deafening chaos. Her feet throbbed hot and hurt and she was sure if she tried to stand she’d simply black out, so far beyond her pain tolerance she was crying still. Her chakra nearly burned to use, too much used too quick even through her iron control. Sakura pressed her face into the chimney she hid around and tried to simply breathe. She was done. There was nothing she could do here. Nothing.

She watched the battle with blear eyes, knowing she had to stay awake at the very least. Whoever won here would decide if she lived or died and Sakura wouldn’t die unconscious on her back. She just wouldn’t. So Sakura watched, the only observer of the entire field. Everyone else was drawn in, focused on fighting, focused on an opponent. Sakura was the watcher, the one who was watching history unfold. 

And then, the Mizukage went for Zabuza’s throat. He tossed Mei clear through a building and turned all his might onto Zabuza. Haku was screaming across the battlefield, rage and ice caught by the heat of a man using katon jutsu liberally. The Mizukage slammed his staff down onto Zabuza’s sword hard enough he drove Zabuza into the stone. The road cracked and crinkled under him as Zabuza shook with the effort of keeping his sword up between him and a bludgeoning death. The Mizukage didn’t even look winded as he bore down on Zabuza, face still flat. 

Sakura felt herself freeze for one single moment. Felt herself hesitate for only a millisecond as she considered, not what to do, but how to actually do it. Here is what she knew; she had one kunai, a brace of shuriken, not enough speed or strength and no real jutsu beyond small illusions. And as soon as her feet hit the ground she would go down. 

Sakura breathed deeply, pulled air into her lungs and let it out. For one shining moment she imagined going home to Konoha. She pictured the scent of the trees flowering in the spring, in the way the sun had hit her bedroom wall. She imagined the soft peaceful sounds of a happy city, imagined Team Seven waiting for her on their bridge. Imagined Ino in her flower shop, smiling. 

Well.

She hadn’t really thought she’d get home anyways. 

Sakura threw a brace of shuriken, her last, and watched as the Mizukage barely even glanced at them to knock them out of the way. He sent a water bullet flying at her in retaliation and continued to press down on Zabuza like she hadn’t done a damn thing. Oh well, she hadn’t imagined the shuriken would hit. That hadn’t been the point. 

Kawarimi was an academy jutsu but like every jutsu, worked best if you could focus and do it in a nice quite moment. It worked best if the object was still and waiting for you. But to utilize it better, you just had to be smart, quick, and have great control. Sakura had all three right now. Sakura reached out, her chakra barely needing a guiding handsign and grabbed onto one of the shuriken the Mizukage had knocked out of the way. In an instant they had switched places and Sakura was in the air, in the Mizukage’s blind spot. 

Sakura had her trench knife in one hand and a kunai in the other and she had three seconds until she hit the ground and was useless. All she had were a few knives and straight up sheer bloody fucking will. And maybe a little coil of rage. She harnessed that rage, harnessed all her anger at the world and aimed for the Mizukage’s throat. 

He saw her coming of course. She was fighting giants and she was only a brat, only a hunting bitch, only a little mouse. 

He caught her throat in one hand, dark violet eyes glancing at her only for a brief single moment. Zabuza’s giant sword was still being held back by that stupid staff and Sakura knew she had two seconds before he snapped her neck.

But his hands were full now. One of Mei’s guards, the one with the eyepatch, lunged in, desperate and sharp and slammed his hand into the Mizukage’s head. Sakura felt his chakra ripple outwards and was momentarily confused as she categorized the attack as a sharp pointed ‘Kai’. The reaction was nearly instantaneous. The Mizukage screamed. 

Zabuza slammed into the kid-looking man and with a sharp jab, broke his arm. He dropped Sakura and Sakura was dumfounded when instead of going for the killing blow, Zabuza lunged for her instead. He caught her and in a burst of speed they were outside of the blast zone, back on a rooftop.

“You fucking idiot!” Zabuza snarled at her, eyes wide and crazed, blood speckled across his face and teeth, “You attacked the fucking Mizukage with a fucking kunai?!”

“Fuck you,” Sakura said, voice wobbly, “It was all I had left and he had you pinned down”

He stared at her, practically vibrating with rage or adrenaline (she couldn’t tell). He didn’t set her down and she clung to him trying to keep her breathing even as she shook apart. His hand slid into her hair, slick with blood and tangled in a harsh hold. It was reminiscent of the first time he had done it, jerking her head up so she didn’t cower before Gato. Instead of fear, Sakura felt a rush of relief at the tense grip. She pressed further into him, sweat and blood uncomfortable against her skin but also real and right now. There was still fighting in the distance, but below them the chakra was fading, the attacks petered out, and silence was spreading.

Haku appeared beside them looking ragged and worn, favoring one leg. 

“Watch her,” Zabuza growled, practically shoving Sakura in the boy’s arms. 

Haku took her. Sakura sunk into him as Haku slid down, sitting on the roof, breathing labored. Zabuza watched them for a moment and then leapt back down to where Mei and her guards were standing near the kneeling Mizukage. 

“Thank you,” Haku murmured in her ear, tucking her closer to his chest, “Thank you so much Sakura.”

“I…” Sakura faltered. 

She realized she was shaking. She was trembling from fear and pain and sheer exhaustion. She hadn’t realized it when fighting but her chakra was lower than she’d ever felt it. Her feet were radiating pain and her arm hurt now that she thought about it too and she didn’t think she could even keep herself upright if Haku wasn’t holding her. 

“Good job,” Haku said something soft and vulnerable in his tone.

She closed her eyes. They sat there for a long time, listening to the sounds of war die away.

.--.

“I can’t spare the chakra for your right now,” the doctor told her flatly.

“Check her.” Zabuza growled through grit teeth.

The medic stared at him just as flatly, looking exhausted. His hands lit green, the light flickering as he ran it over Sakura.

“Lacerations on the feet, badly sprained ankle, bruised ribs, broken arm, chakra exhaustion” he said voice empty, “the nurses can give you a cast and stitches. Don’t let her walk.”

Zabuza growled but the man was already up and going. The nurse that came in after him was a worn woman with sharp eyes and quick hands. She did indeed give Sakura stitches in her feet (an excruciating time considering they didn’t have enough medicine to freeze the nerves and the woman was a civillian). She also showed Sakura how to tightly wrap her sprained ankle. For the bruised ribs there was nothing to do but wait, but for her broken arm (which she had no idea where she’d gotten to be honest) she was passed to another nurse who spent the time getting her a cast. 

By the time this was all done Sakura was barely awake, barely aware. Zabuza had been called away by a frantic messenger and Haku had wavered before Zabuza had merely glared at him. Now Haku and Sakura sat in a corner of the Hospital hallway, curled up out of the way. Haku had found a bottle of water and a ration bar and was cajoling her with small murmurs to eat it. Sakura barley had the energy or strength to close her jaw around the food. 

“Sleep, Sakura,” Haku murmured, “I’ll keep watch.”

Sakura curled into him.

“Wait,” she slurred, peeling her eyes open, “My name.”

“Yes?” Haku asked, arms slipping around her waist to keep her on his lap off the floor.

“You know my name,” Sakura said fighting for awareness.

Haku blinked at her. 

“You know my name,” she repeated, “I’ve never said it.”

He flushed slightly, a light dusting of pale pink that made him unaccountably pretty. Goddamn how did he look so pretty beat to hell and back? Her mind was wobbling away from the subject.

“Ah, I heard it from your teammate. The blond one.”

“Naruto?” she blurted out, her attention sharpening almost painfully, “When!?”

“Back when you were captured by Gato, I was spying on the Builder and your team while collecting some medicinal herbs. They had camped out in the woods and he was running a morning patrol when I risked engaging him to try and find out if they would be ready to come after Zabuza anytime soon. I was in…disguise and the first thing he asked was if I had seen a girl with pink hair named Sakura. Showed me your picture. At the time I wasn’t aware that Zabuza had you.”

Sakura tried to absorb this information.

“Who else knows my name?” Sakura asked, voice small.

Haku, as if sensing something, slid a hand over her hair gently, softly like she was a spooked animal.

“Mei heard me use it, but I believe she thinks it is a nickname for your hair. Zabuza has never asked.”

Sakura closed her eyes. 

“Don’t…” she swallowed, “Don’t use it.”

“…I won’t if you don’t want it, Kurogane.”

He sounded sad. Sakura just buried her face in his kimono. She was too tired to explain that she didn’t want her name to be used right now, didn’t want to be called Sakura by Kiri nin while she was collared and bloody. Sakura was Team Seven, was Ino, was Konoha. Here, in the Bloody Mist wearing a collar and following Zabuza she was Kurogane. She had to separate it. She had to. ‘Sakura’ could be used to break her, to use her.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” she said. 

“I won’t, I promise,” he whispered into her hair.

Sakura finally let her eyes close, finally let the exhaustion carry her into something like sleep and something closer to unconsciousness. She dreamed faintly of someone calling her name and when she woke-up she was enraged and disappointed no one would.

.--.

Sakura learned pretty quick that despite the fact her feet had been stitched up, they were still far too painful to walk on.

“That’s what you get,” Zabuza sneered at her, “Too stupid to dodge a spike trap.”

And yet, he picked her up without even a moment of hesitation when she tried to wobble after them. Before he had lugged her around like a sack of potatoes; thrown over his shoulder, tucked under an arm. Now, for some reason that mystified her, he carried her like a kid. He tucked his arm under her thighs and hiked her up so she could grip his shoulder and peer around. She felt small when he did that. He didn’t even make her cling with chakra (which she didn’t have the energy to do so right now), and instead let her take up his arm like he wasn’t worried he’d need it. 

So Sakura rode in his arm, confused and bewildered as he barely snapped at her or complained. He was busy it seemed, snapping at other ninja and directing a variety of people this way and that. The brief one-day war had done some damage to Kirigakure, reminding Sakura how destructive shinobi could be. Sakura watched the rebuilding from his arms. Haku followed behind at all times of day and refused to be sent off no mater who snapped or ordered. 

And Mei, well Mei was the new Kage.

Sakura had watched as Zabuza and Mei duked it out in a training ground only two days after their victory. She’d watched from the sidelines with nearly the entire village, all watching as Mei and Zabuza went after each other like titans. They were both exhausted from fighting the previous Mizukage and barely used any chakra techniques, sticking to blades and taijutsu. They were monsters in human skin and the amount of teeth bared and blood flung made Sakura quiver. Made more than one other person quiver. And yet it seemed to settle something in the Kiri shinobi as they watched their Kage claim their place through sheer bloody fist fighting. 

Mei won, not easily but she did, and something in Sakura made her tilt her head like a curious dog. She had absolutely no proof but watching them, Sakura was pretty sure they had been going easy on one another and that Zabuza had simply bowed out in the end instead of actually being defeated. Something in her knew that Zabuza had not really been trying to take the Hat. He seemed happy enough that Mei took the work and he was pretty much considered second-in-command. Well. As happy as Zabuza ever was; which she was realizing was never. 

“You can run this shit-hole,” Zabuza told Mei, sneering, “But if you ever do what Yagura did…”

“You’ll do the same I did,” she bared her teeth back in a grin.

Sakura, sitting in Zabuza’s arm looked between them and their weirdness.

“Kurogane,” Mei’s face softened after their posturing, “Thank you.”

Sakura didn’t have anything to say to that and yet Mei stood up and stepped close, ignoring Zabuza’s low growl as his space was invaded.

“Thank you,” Mei repeated reaching out to brush her cheek, “You did good.”

Sakura nodded faintly and didn’t ask the questions that wanted to spill off her tongue. She never did see the former Mizukage again. Instead she sat with Haku on a building ledge, just far enough they were alone as the rest of Kirigakure attended his funeral. Mei had led the procession in her new robes, her Hat sitting like a crown on her head. They could see her at the head of the funeral even from their distance.

“He’s never been my Kage,” Haku told her unprompted, face calm, “But he was Zabuza’s. And at one point he was supposedly a good man.”

Sakura didn’t know how a man known for plunging Kiri into the Bloody Mist could have ever been good but she didn’t pry. That last attack, that last ‘Kai’, and the former Mizukage’s scream gave her just enough information that she did not want to dig. She didn’t need her hands bloodier or to be ensnared in even more Kiri drama. 

Sakura sat with Haku and watched a new era dawn on Kiri. She looked North West, towards Konoha and breathed.

.--.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So they never really talked about how the Mizukage died but I know he was defeated by a 'Kai' from Ao who dismissed the genjutsu on him. He does die though, but Sakura doesn't know how (suicide, execution, his body simply shutting down from shock at such an invasive genjutsu being ripped away).
> 
> But they won! And Sakura is mostly okay.


	11. Knowledge of the Seas

“Yagura left us with a disaster,” Mei said absently as she looked over scroll after scroll.

Zabuza grunted but didn’t disagree reading over her shoulder. Sakura was tucked on a cushion against the wall, just out of sight of the scrolls. Haku had stuffed her pockets full snacks earlier, mainly crackers, before he’d run off to do something for Zabuza. Sakura crunched her snacks as quietly as she could, carefully trying to be invisible.

She listened to Mei and Zabuza complain and muttered over work and wondered faintly if she could find the words to ask for what she wanted. In the end she didn’t have to.

“Ah, that’s right,” Mei said after signing a few forms.

She turned to look at Sakura and more than one other set of eyes followed her gaze.

“Leave the Brat alone, Mei,” Zabuza growled, “She’s not your gopher.”

“Not with those feet,” Mei agreed, “But there is something she needs to do.”

Mei pulled a scroll free and scribbled something. Zabuza stared at it before grunting and glancing away. Sakura shrunk into her ratty Haori but didn’t look away as Mei regarded her over the scroll. Finally, the woman stood and walked over to her, scroll and brush in hand.

“Time to live up to our promises,” Mei told her.

Mei put the brush in her hand and rolled the scroll out. Sakura looked at it and her breath caught as she read who it was addressed to; Konoha. 

“You need to prove who you are,” Mei said.

Sakura stared at the brush in her hand, at the scroll and tried to breath. Promises and Konoha. Yes, she did need to prove who she was. Sakura stared at the scroll long enough Mei stood and left her to it with a ruffle of her hair. Sakura managed to suppress her flinch. 

Sakura agonized over the scroll for far to long, listening faintly to the continued bitching, the scratch of ink on paper. She looked down at the scroll, read Mei’s message for Konoha; it wasn’t just about Sakura of course, it was an official scroll, announcing Kiri’s new Leader, further extending the branch of neutrality despite the change in power. It was all flowery words, something that might one day be put in a textbook that Sakura would read. And at the bottom was a little blurb about how for proof of their intentions of neutrality they would return a Konoha shinobi prisoner. 

Sakura stared it and thought about how to prove she was who she was going to say she was. 

When she finally put pen to paper it was after agonizing over the twists and turns of TI, of challenges of proof, of the paradox of giving enough but not too much. Sakura breathed as evenly as she could as she wrote in code. It was a simple code, something every Academy student learned to train in code writing, and something that had never been copied or replicated or cracked for the simple reason it had never been used in any capacity other than training. Konoha shinobi learned a variety of codes as they climbed through the ranks, each changing and twisting as needed. But Sakura had never got the chance to learn those. 

So Sakura used Academy code and wrote out three simple sentences.

_Sakura, Shinobi No. 012601  
Team Seven, Wave, Taken.  
Ino, red ribbon. _

Sakura considered if she should write more but held back. Too much information might be suspicious, they might consider it taken from her. This was simple enough. Name, ID. What happened and where. And then a small insignificant detail that no one would know, even if they had tortured her. Who would have asked who her friend was and something significant about it? No, they would have went for real information. 

Sakura stared at it until the words dried. Mei took the scroll back and rolled it up. Sakura watched as she tied and sealed it with chakra and then handed it off to one of her men.

“Send that to Konoha. A-rank carrier,” she said, “Summons if someone has a useful one.”

“Not like your idiots,” Zabuza snorted.

“My seahorses are not idiots!” Mei said shrilly, “They’re elegant beautiful creatures! And they get married for life!”

“Something you’ve never managed,” Zabuza responded, and there was something almost teasing about it.

Mei got louder and shriller and Sakura buried herself in her worn haori, crunching her crackers loud enough to drown them out and tried to remember exactly what the flower field behind the Yamanaka Greenhouse looked like.

.--.

“We still have seen no sign of the Three-Tail,” Mei murmured one day with Zabuza.

“If they die with their jinchuriki it takes them a while to come back,” Zabuza grunted, “You have a new jinchuriki lined up?”

“Seals are already in place and a squad has been tasked with it. They won’t leave the village for anything until we know where the bijuu will materialize,” Mei said.

Sakura, lost in a scroll Mei’s guard, a rather polite but shy young man named Chojouro (she had finally learned his name despite seeing him in the cave often) had given her, looked up. 

“Bijuu?” she asked, “Like the nine-tails? Why would you want to seal it? Why not kill it?”

The two adults stared at her until she shrunk back.

“What?” Mei blinked, “Why would we want to seal the…What do they teach you in Konoha?”

“Um,” Sakura swallowed, “Um, that the Kyuubi attacked Konoha thirteen years ago and was killed by the Yondaime.” 

They both stared at her.

“Your academy teaches you this?” Mei asked, seemingly baffled.

“Yes?” Sakura said, more of a question than a statement. 

“I don’t even know where to start,” Mei said, “Do you know what the nine Bijuu are?”

“There are nine?” Sakura goggled. 

She had seen images painted and texts written about the destruction the mysterious nine-tailed fox had done to Konoha. She had been born only a month before it’s devastation and her family had lost their original home in the attack. That there were nine such titans…

“What the hell is Konoha doing?” Zabuza frowned, brow furrowing, “Why the fuck is that a secret? They’re the ones who started this shit.”

“What?” Sakura stared.

And so Mei told her about the nine bijuu sealed by the Shodaime and his wife and given out as war determent. She learned about jinchuriki and sealing. She learned that Konoha had had the nine-tails almost since it’s founding, that the Kyuubi hadn’t just appeared so much as broken free.

“Which really terrified a lot of countries,” Mei said, “Konoha was the original sealers, their seals nearly fool-proof, so if theirs’s broke, what about ours? We always thought that whatever they did to reinforce Yagura’s seal was what drove him crazy.

“The Mizukage was a Jinchuriki?” Sakura said faintly.

“It’s why it took an army to beat him, brat,” Zabuza said. 

Sakura stared wordlessly at them. She wasn’t sure how much she liked knowing this secret. Knowing that the world was suddenly much more deadly than she had known.

“Then the Kyuubi…”

“Was sealed again,” Mei shrugged, “No idea in who, is the rub. A lot of countries are very careful in their challenges to Konoha these days because you never know when they might unleash their jinchuriki and we wouldn’t have any warning.”

“Who was the last one?” Sakura asked.

Whoever it had been must have been in her history books if they had been such a powerful force, but she couldn’t think of any figures who would have stood out. She had no idea who it could be now either, but she wasn’t familiar with the upper echelons of ninja.

“It was the Red Hot Habanero,” Zabuza grunted, “Crazy bitch.”

“Oh yes, you had a few run ins with her on the battlefield, didn’t you?” Mei asked sounding amused as she looked at him, “She really did like gunning for Kiri-nin. Which is fair I suppose; we destroyed her village.”

“She wasn’t from Konoha?” Sakura said, a headache forming as more and more information was getting handed over to her easily.

She felt like these were things she should know and was a tad embarrassed that somehow they knew more about Konoha’s history than her.

“She was from Uzushiogakure,” Mei shrugged, “So pretty much Konoha anyways.”

“Uzushiogakure?” Sakura asked.

Now the stares were back.

“What the fuck?” Zabuza muttered rather emphatically, “No. Bijuu I can kind of understand waiting to teach, but you’re telling me you’ve never heard of the Village of Whirlpools?”

Sakura shook her head. Even Mei looked disturbed.

“They were your sister village,” Mei said slowly, “Where you Shodaime’s wife came from and who helped you win the first and second shinobi wars. And it was completely eradicated by Kiri and Kumo in the Third war.”

Sakura gaped. 

“And…and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki was from there?” she finally managed.

“Yes. Raised in Konoha to be the next container though. Those Uzumaki were really resilient and were sealing experts to boot so they made good hosts.

“Uzumaki,” Sakura said slowly, heartbeat loud in her ears.

“Hmm,” Mei said as she started opening drawers, “They were the founding clan of Uzushiogakure.”

She didn’t seem to notice Sakura’s stunned look as she dug through a drawer.

“Ah, here we go. I knew he would have a collection of bingo books,” Mei said pulling a small book out, “Yagura liked to keep them to compare strength levels and sightings.”

The book Mei tossed her was old but well cared for and was one of the religiously followed Bingo books. Sakura had never held one, or looked in one, but she knew what they were from class. This was the Mizu edition of course and the blue cover showed that well enough. Sakura flipped through it quickly, faces flashing past, unsure of what exactly she was looking for.

And then she found it. Or, found her.

Sakura stared down at the face of Naruto set in red hair. For a second Sakura was sure she was looking at her teammate; she had the whisker marks, the toothy grin. She had the stance even, posing for the camera. 

“Uzumaki Kushina,” she said aloud, “The Red-Hot Habanero.”

Sakura skimmed the description, the kill count and bounty. Her eyes kept falling back on that grin though. She flipped back to the front to check the date it was published.

“She died?” Sakura asked.

“Must have. No one survives having the bijuu escape,” Mei said, “And no one has seen her since.”

Sakura stared at the woman in the book and knew with absolute certainty she was staring at Naruto’s mother. Which …which must mean… 

Sakura was a smart kid not because of memorization but because of her ability to correlate information, to come to correct conclusions. And Sakura looked down at the woman who looked like her teammate, was the age to be his mother, who had died the night the Kyuubi had been born. Sakura looked at the familiar grin and thought of how Konoha had lied to everyone saying the Kyuubi had been killed. About how Mei said the other villages were worried about challenging Konoha without knowing who their jinchuriki was, which would make sense if it was someone untrained. 

Sakura would put down a lot of money on Naruto being the jinchuriki. 

And she didn’t know what to do with that information.

“Can…can I have a copy of this?” Sakura asked.

“Keep it,” Mei flapped a hand, “And Zabuza.”

“What?” he grunted.

“Why don’t you go fetch Sakura here some of our history scrolls. She might like to read about the fall of Uzushiogakure.”

“Trying to inspire dissent in her,” Zabuza raised a brow.

“It’s not dissent, I’m merely concerned about gaps in her education,” Mei said with a innocent flutter of her eyelashes, “And if it gives her a leg up on her teammates and village all the better.”

Knowledge was power, Sakura thought idly. She wasn’t sure how this information would help her, but there was the chance in the future that knowing these secrets could save her life. And so she was appropriately grateful when Zabuza passed on the task to a grunt who fetched her a variety of scrolls. Sakura wasn’t always allowed to sit in the Kage’s office and listen to the going ons, but now she had scrolls to keep her busy when she was set in the hallway.

.--.

“Do you know any seals?” Sakura asked Nano.

She was unsure if she was glad or not that the man had survived the assault on Kirigakure. He was a wealth of information and was so eager to teach her, for which Sakura might have been undeniably grateful, but he was a creep and that wasn’t something she could get over. His techniques had saved her life, but she couldn’t find it in her to be thankful. He had come found her after a nasty concussion had laid him out post-battle. Sakura was recovered from her chakra exhaustion so it timed well. She’d waffled on letting him teach her again but even she had to admit she was growing tired of sitting quietly and reading. Neither Zabuza nor Haku had time to teach her anything and her feet and bruised rib were in no condition to do anything physical. 

So if she wanted to do anything she would have to allow him to teach her. Which he eagerly wanted to. 

“The basics,” he said, “I can make tags and small storage seals. How is your calligraphy?”

“Good.”

“If it’s pretty enough I’ll teach you,” he said.

And so Sakura presented her most careful brushwork which got a smile.

“It is pretty,” he agreed fingers hovering over the ink.

Sakura thanked hours of practice of trying to get perfect writing so that she might impress Sasuke with her notes. 

“Do you want tags or storage?” he asked as he settled beside her.

He was a tad too close, but Sakura winced it away.

“Both,” she demanded.

He smiled at her but taught her both. If his hand lingered over hers after showing her the symbols, well, they were in the main hall of the Kage tower and Zabuza made sure to give him a glower every time he had to pass by. Sakura kept her knife in easy reach and slowly mastered a basic exploding tag, a smoke tag, and a minor storage seal that could hold the amount a backpack might. She instantly sealed her new bingo-book in it and a few notes she’d managed to take along with her few things (her extra shirt, her bedroll, and a few ration bars), securing it in her shirt so she wouldn’t lose or damage her few things. 

“You really need new clothes,” Nano tsked after watching her tuck the scroll away, “These don’t become you.”

He was wearing a kimono like usual but this one was obviously finer than the one they’d camped and fought in.

“It’s fine,” she said, “Teach me a jutsu.”

“So demanding,” he said even as he smiled and obeyed.

.--.


	12. How to fight the Current

“Here.”

Sakura looked up from her scroll to find Ao holding out a bowl. He glowered at her as she took it nervously. Mei’s guards all intimidated her (except the rather sweet Choujuro) but Ao seemed to glower at her more often.

“Ignore the grump,” Mei waved Sakura’s worried face away as she eyed the bowl of steaming stew handed to her, “Ao is always cranky.”

“Hmph,” Ao grunted, “I’m your guard, not you server. Get your own food next time.”

“But I’m so busy,” Mei teased.

“Good. At least you have work since you won’t have anything else in your life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Mei demanded.

“You’ll be lucky to find a husband being so bitchy,” he grunted, “So it’s good you’re kept busy.”

Sakura was pretty sure Ao was teasing Mei, not just maliciously taunting her, so she kept out of it as Mei blew her top, throwing a chair at her loyal guard. Instead Sakura turned to the stew and sipped it carefully. It was actually really good and for once it wasn’t fish, but beef.

“Trade routes have been established,” Mei told her when Sakura made a questioning noise, “A lot of our merchants were leery at the brief battle and change of power but they were easy enough to reassure. We should even be getting fresh fruits and vegetables soon.”

Sakura remembered someone ranting about some bastard setting fire to the large gardens that Kiri had carefully cultivated to make sure they got enough vitamins. Sakura understood some vindictive ninja who hadn’t agreed with the coup had decided to try and cripple them and managed to damage their gardens and orchards. Sakura hadn’t seen the damage of course; they were very open in letting her know what was going on but she was still not a Kiri nin and she didn’t know any key positions of the city. In fact, Sakura had carefully only seen the Kage tower, the Hospital, and the small apartment nearly next door to the Tower that Zabuza and Haku had claimed and brought Sakura along to at night. She knew the routes between them but nothing more. 

If Sakura made it to Konoha she would be able to tell them a lot of what had happened, including some damage reports, but by then Kiri would have cleaned up enough none of it would be valuable beyond the history. She would never be able to even map out a way from the main docks to the Kage tower considering she rarely got out with her mobility limited to Zabuza or Haku carrying her. 

Sakura looked at her feet at the memory and knew they were getting better. She’d been taking antibiotics and the stitches were coming out in a few days but they were still horribly tender and she’d been ordered not to walk on them until the stitches came out at a minimum. That had led to some embarrassment as Haku or Mei helped her to the washroom when she needed it but Sakura was mostly upset with how limited she felt always sitting on her butt.

Sakura shook the thoughts away and looked at her stew.

.--.

“Break time,” Mei declared one day, “Kurogane, let’s go to the bathhouse.”

Sakura, who had been contentedly studying a scroll, jolted at the direct address. 

“Your stitches should be healed enough you can get the wounds wet,” Mei said eyeing her bandaged feet, “And the bathhouse is up and running.”

Sakura hadn’t known it had been down but nodded. She half expected Mei to ask her guard to pick her up when Mei herself swooped in and lifted Sakura like Zabuza did these days. Sakura gripped her shoulder very carefully. Zabuza was so huge that Sakura felt tiny in his arms, and Haku often piggy-backed her instead of trying to lift her like Zabuza did considered Sakura was more than half his size. Mei was not a large woman and Sakura awkwardly took up her arms, but she didn’t seem to notice her weight at least. 

The bathhouse was a traditional looking place and the owner was very quick to bow to Mei, babbling about clearing out some riffraff before she entered. Mei and Sakura waited as one side of the bath was cleared before the man led them in. Sakura stripped her own clothes off, wincing slight as she remembered faintly, they hadn’t been washed in a while. Sakura had worn one of Haku’s kimono a few times as he insisted they get washed but it had never stripped them of the smell of saltwater or the blood stains they had accumulated. And since she wasn’t doing much these days besides sitting around they hadn’t gotten done in a while. She was a tad embarrassed immaculate Mei had carried her grubbiness in her arms. 

Sakura sat on a stool and let Mei wash her back and hair before returning the favor. When Mei set her gently in the warm spring Sakura almost moaned at how nice the heat was. 

“You need a haircut,” Mei said eyeing her uneven cut. 

It had grown since Zabuza had chopped it off what felt like a lifetime ago. Sakura didn’t disagree.

“And you need to eat more,” Mei said just as imperiously as she looked at Sakura, “You were underweight when you arrived in our Cave and you haven’t gained any weight since then.”

Which she supposed was true. Sakura had lost so much weight in Gato’s Manor from nerves, lack of food, and energy use. Then she’d gotten more to at on the journey to Kiri and in the cave, but her energy-use had increased much much more and she simply hadn’t gained anything. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d lost even more weight. 

And now they were in Kiri and Sakura ate at every opportunity, but it seemed her body had been more starved than she had assumed because it was all going to her recovery and not sticking. 

“I’m fine,” Sakura said, a tad embarrassed.

“Hmm,” Mei said not believing her for a minute, “We could at least get you some new clothes.

“These are fine,” Sakura said a tad more defensive. 

They had been given to her out of the kindness of a lady’s heart, her son’s old outfit, and Sakura still remembered how stupidly grateful she’d been. They’d seen their fair share of fight since then and were scuffed up and had been mended once or twice, and of course had a variety of bloodstains on them. But they were well made and had been meant for working in and so they persevered. Besides, they weren’t noticeably terrible especially when she was under her old haori most of the time. The nice thing about being in Kirigakure properly was there was heating and Sakura didn’t shiver her days away anymore. 

Mei’s eyes lingered on her neck and Sakura met her gaze. The collar was sitting on top of her clothes in the change room and Sakura knew if she didn’t watch carefully it would disappear. 

Mei finally shrugged and leaned back to relax. They shared a comfortable silence and when they left Sakura dressed herself, buckling the thick leather carefully. That evening she chopped her hair shorter with her trench knife in the tiny old bathroom she shared with Haku and Zabuza. Haku offered to help but she shook her head and hacked it off herself. Haku watched from the doorway, looking pained at how uneven it was being cut despite Sakura’s attempt. 

Sakura couldn’t describe how she felt when she looked in the mirror at her uneven short cut, at the blatant leather collar, at the blood-stained fisherman clothes. She wanted to voice her thoughts but instead folded them deep inside her.

She didn’t look like Haruno Sakura, didn’t look like the little kid that had left Konoha all excited about her first mission past the walls. She didn’t look like what she had been and that was entirely the point.

.--.

“Like this,” Nano said, guiding her hand through the sign.

Sakura shook his touch away and moulded her chakra again. She was having a hard time learning this genjutsu. Everything Nano had taught her thus far was low level. Oh they were helpful and clever and limited only by her skill and imagination, but they were all low D-level with a few C-rank techniques. 

This one was a B-rank genjutsu meant to make people see someone they loved. It was tricky because it was a guided genjutsu, seeking out the parts of the brain that fired when someone looked at something with love. It drew memory out and made the viewer see their loved one. But it was a league above what she’d already learned, and she was having trouble doing it properly.

Sakura made a frustrated noise. She took a deep breath, centered herself, and then carefully took the barest hint of chakra, barely enough to even count as chakra use, and wove it carefully. She knew she could be a bit slow, but control was a patience game when you were first learning. Sakura very carefully shaped her intent, her chakra, and her mind and then laid the genjutsu over Nano like it was a shroud, seeping across his face and hair as it ensnared him.

Nano gasped. 

“Oh,” he shuddered, “Just like that.”

His pupil was blown wide, staring at her like a crazed man who had seen absolution. She cancelled her own genjutsu as soon as she saw it had worked and shuddered discreetly as Nano didn’t lose the look. He reached out as she pulled her hands apart, breaking the hand-sign. 

“Don’t,” Sakura protested as he grasped her wrists, fingers curling over even her cast. 

“That was beautiful,” he breathed leaning in closer. 

Sakura tried to pull back, but he had a firm grasp her arms now. Her eyes darted around him but the hallway was empty. The office was right there, and Sakura knew if she called out at least Mei would come check on them. 

“Nano, let me go,” she said.

Nano tugged her closer until she almost tipped into his lap.

“Your ability to mold chakra is stunning,” he said instead, eyes feverish, “What you just did…I have no words for the level of control I just witnessed. Do you understand? Do you understand how gorgeous you are?”

“Nano,” Sakura tried again, voice thin, “Stop.”

“Be my apprentice,” Nano said, voice dripping with adoration, “I will teach you everything. Anything.”

He let go of her cast and reached up, fingers brushing across her cheek, up across her ear into her hair. Sakura made a low wounded noise and tried to jerk back. He didn’t seem to notice as is fingers ran down her hair, her neck, and to her collar, pads of his fingers dragging across where leather met skin.

“I’ll give you beautiful clothes to match how brightly you sparkle when you grasp chakra,” he murmured, “And the prettiest collar if that’s what you want. Something that draws attention to the chakra points in your throat.”

“Nano,” Sakura gulped down air, shaking slightly.

Nao stood, pulling Sakura with him and she shuddered as he tugged her against his chest. She barely even noticed her feet touching the ground. Haku had been making her do leg exercises every morning and evening so she didn’t lose any use, but she still had not stood in so long. Her revulsion at his touch paired with her legs failing her almost had her falling away. Nano pulled at her and for a moment her mind went white with terror as she realized he was trying to move her. If he got her away from witnesses, from shouting distance of Mei, what would happen?

Before she could draw in the air to scream for Mei, or anyone, Nano had half lifted half dragged her to Mei’s office himself. He pushed into the office without an ounce of subtly or respect. Sakura didn’t know how to fight his hold as he pulled her into the office. Mei looked up at the commotion, as did Ao and the two other ninja with her. 

“She is so good,” Nano said deliriously, voice pitched low and wanting as he looked at Mei, “You have to let me have her.”

Sakura’s voice came back as she considered the plea. No. Just fuck no. Sakura didn’t think Mei would agree at all, but there was a faint worry in her, something that couldn’t be assured Nano wouldn’t get to keep her if he pitched it right. Sakura wanted to whimper but instead she snarled, low and dangerous, and tugged on the hands holding her wrists. She could feel his body heat from how closely he stood to her, half holding her up. 

“I told you not to touch me,” Sakura hissed between her teeth, baring them.

Nano ignored her.

“Let me have her,” he repeated to Mei. 

“Let go of her,” Mei said idly, almost dismissively, as she kept her hand steady on her pen.

Ao was watching from behind Mei’s shoulder, absolutely still. The two ninja with her had looked between them all and then subtly slipped out the door. Mei seemed calm but her eyes were focused on Nano eerily, like she was waiting for the moment to sink her teeth into his throat.

“Please,” he begged, tone fanatic, “You don’t understand what her chakra control is like. She could be absolutely stunning if I just worked on her! She’d flourish with my touch.”

Mei’s lips twisted and she set the pen down. 

“I thought people would understand by now that I don’t like them touching my things.”

Zabuza prowled into the room like an angry bear, shoulders wide, head raised, and teeth bared. His fingers flashed in the light, clenching, and the anger in his eyes was sparking. Sakura felt suddenly like she could breath easy again as he dragged his eyes across Nano’s hands on her wrists. 

“She’s too good for you,” Nano snapped at Zabuza, “You’re a brute, no appreciation for control at all! I could train her so well! She’s exquisite!”

He turned to look down at her.

“Tell them,” Nano cajoled, voice breathless as he looked at her with adoration apparent in his gaze, “You like it when I teach you. You learn so well.”

Sakura’s snarl was loud and dangerous, and she pulled with more strength. She did not like this man touching her like this and she was using the rage to repress her fear. Her heart wanted to leap out of her throat, she wanted to break into a cold sweat and cower away from the blatant want in the man’s eyes. He didn’t want to rape her at least, but he still wanted her and it made her itch with discomfort. Fear was a familiar companion by now, but so was the rage; and Sakura preferred the rage. She snarled again, letting the anger burn her blood. 

Nano pulled her closer and his eyes were glazed and distant but burning as he looked at her, face close and his breath washing over her.

“Let go of me,” Sakura said, and her voice was deadly.

“I could teach you,” Nano murmured low and seductive, “Any jutsu you want, as many as you want. You can sign my summons contract. I will give you everything and anything. Just let me watch.”

Sakura felt something like a shudder slide down her spine, thoroughly creeped out even past the rage. She felt sort of sick looking at the feverish want in this man’s eyes. Felt ill as she took in the way he was touching her, the way he wanted her so damn bad. It had tipped from unnerving but acceptable into something that made Sakura feel a fissure of fear in the back of her head. His eyes had started to look like Yashiro’s at some point and she had no idea when it had happened. 

“Fuck off,” Sakura said and her voice was a little less deadly and a little more thin with fear. 

When he didn’t let go in the next instant Sakura reacted. He wasn’t listening to words or body language. He wasn’t even noticing her trying to pull from his hold. So Sakura got her feet up and though he instinctively jerked back from them he didn’t let go of her wrists. Her feet hit his chest, her knees tucked in, and then she kicked out. She used the momentum gained from pushing off of him to flip, keeping her wrists firm while she twisted. He let go with a yelp of pain. Sakura landed in a crouch ignoring the bursting pain in her feet, her knife already in hand.

But Zabuza had taken the opening she’d made and slammed Nano’s face into the floor. The crunch of his nose breaking against the wood was loud and very satisfying. He did not stand up even as Zabuza let him go. Sakura shook but the knife in her hand alone did wonders to sooth her nerves. 

Zabuza looked at her and for once his face didn’t look grim.

“Good job,” he said lowly.

Sakura nodded and then sheathed her knife. She looked at Nano out cold on the ground and then edged closer to Zabuza.

“I’ll see that he understands that he is not allowed to do that,” Mei said, and though she was already back to her paperwork her tone was steel, “Maybe a few nights in a cell will cool his head.”

Ao leaned over and grabbed Nano without another word, taking him away. Sakura opened her mouth, maybe to say thank you, and choked on a squeak as Zabuza grabbed her. He hauled her up ungracefully and Sakura flailed only slightly before she was tucked on his arm. She blinked, surprised, as her hands gripped at his shoulder. He grunted face angled towards her feet and Sakura sat very still on his arm. 

“You’re bleeding,” he growled, “Ripped some stitches.”

Her feet throbbed at the reminder and she quelled a wince. They had almost been fully healed as well. She was a day away from getting the stitches taken out. 

“I’m taking her to the hospital,” Zabuza snapped at Mei.

Mei’s eyes were narrowed on Sakura’s feet as well and she nodded faintly. 

“Kurogane,” Mei said, “If Nano comes near you again, you have my permission to put him down with force. Fatally if need be.”

Sakura nodded once at Mei’s grim tone. She clung to Zabuza as he turned on his heel, striding out. He carried her roughly, holding her close to his side and Sakura felt like a child tucked on his arm. His hand on her back burned and Sakura leaned into it.

“What did he say to you?” Zabuza grunted.

“Nothing you didn’t hear,” she said shuddering faintly, “He just…he looked at me like Yashiro did. It …I don’t know if it was just teaching he wanted me for.”

Zabuza’s steps faltered and his eyes drifted off after whatever hall Ao had dragged Nano.

“I’ll make him regret it,” Zabuza said and it sounded like a promise. 

Sakura reached up, palm sliding against her collar. Zabuza didn’t do anything more than grumbled as she hid her face in his shoulder. 

.--.

“Should you be walking?” Haku fretted as Sakura stepped lightly across the floor.

“The nurse said it had mostly healed up,” Sakura told him, “the new stitches are much less deep. She even gave me a numbing cream, just said not to do any training or running.”

“Good,” Haku said looking at her, “Come, eat some food.”

Sakura ate. Haku watched her carefully and Sakura was used to his gaze enough to ignore it. 

Zabuza returned mid meal but didn’t touch the food as he dropped into a chair. His gaze turned to Sakura and she faltered. There was something in his eyes, in the set of his shoulders, as he looked at her. She put the food down. 

“Got word from Konoha,” Zabuza grunted.

Sakura’s breath caught in her throat.

“They’re sending a team to negotiate a neutrality pact with the new Mizukage,” he continued, “Hatake Kakashi will be their lead.”

Sakura felt … weird. Almost weightless with something like relief but with this wiggling sense of …terror. Kakashi-sensei was coming to Kiri. Was going to come take her home. Kakashi-sensei was coming to Kiri and he was going to see Sakura. This new Sakura. This Sakura who wasn’t his student. 

“When will they be here?” Sakura asked numbly.

“A week.” Zabuza said, eyes glinting as he looked at her. 

“Okay,” she said faintly.

She didn’t sleep well that night as she let her mind run wild. Kakashi-sensei was coming to Kiri and she didn’t know if he was going to take her home. Maybe he was being sent to confirm it was her. But Sakura had been in enemy hands for so long now. What if they decided she was a liability, she wasn’t worth bringing home? What if they saw her and thought she was too Kiri to go home? 

What if they left her here?

Sakura did not sleep well.

.--.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Nano bit reached breaking point. And Konoha is on the Horizon.


	13. Breaching the surface for air

“You need to be quicker with your arm,” Zabuza grunted.

Sakura gave him an annoyed look and looked down at the cast still wrapped around her wrist pointedly.

“Doesn’t mater. That much weight is negligible. Shouldn’t throw off your speed.”

“But it does stop me from bending my hand and reacting to a change of direction,” Sakura said flatly. 

He looked at her like that was the stupidest excuse he’d ever hear. Sakura resisted the urge to ask him if he’d ever worn one; the answer was probably no.

“Like this,” he grunted, repeating the motion.

“I thought you didn’t like knives,” she said as she followed the strike. 

“Don’t. But they’re good for cutting throats.”

Sakura nodded and watched the strike again. Zabuza did it smoothly like he’d done it a thousand times, which he probably had. Sakura copied the move, copied the slash and the swing, copied it like there was a man directly in front of her and she was cutting his throat to the bone. 

“Gotta be quick,” Zabuza scowled, “Or else he’ll dodge back. Or you’ll get it stuck in the spine and he might be able to strike back.”

“I am being quick,” she snapped.

He gave her a derisive look. He showed her the move again. He angled it and Sakura practiced and practiced and practiced. It didn’t get past her that he was teaching her how to strike up against someone taller than her, or someone holding her down. 

By the end of the lessons her arms were inching towards sore from how long she’d held them up and slashed. 

“Momichi, Mei-sama requests your presence,” someone called.

The messenger was smart enough to stay a distance away, eyeing them like rabid animals as he yelled out his orders. Zabuza glared at him, still all pissy about getting orders. 

“Watch the Brat,” Zabuza told Haku who had been running through his own Kata, “And try and find her some better clothes.”

Sakura watched him stomp off and looked at Haku.

“I don’t want different clothes,” she said firmly.

Haku eyed her well worn outfit but didn’t argue. He had already tried to get her in something nicer, just like Mei, but Sakura resisted. She couldn’t even say fully why she resisted except for the fact she was comfortable as she was. Old Sakura would have been horrified at the well worn-patched up, blood-stained outfit, but Sakura now could only revel in the fact they were entirely hers and warm enough for now. Even the oil-slick coat that had been Gato’s was fully hers now and Sakura weas loath to give it up no matter how ill it fit and how scruffy she was. She didn’t want someone else to dress her again. 

“Let’s go get some food instead,” Haku said.

.--.

“Watch the barnacles, they will cut your feet,” Haku warned as she slipped deeper into the tide. 

Sakura carefully stepped over a sharp looking rock and avoided a little purple anemone. Haku followed her, white yukata floating behind him like a train. Sakura didn’t trust herself with such restrictive clothing and was stripped down to her trousers and the bandages she repurposed as breast bindings. She glanced about a tad nervously but there was no one else nearby. Zabuza was watching with arms crossed and his usual grumpy expression from the rocks. 

“Ready?” Haku asked her.

He smiled at her and she breathed deeply once.

“Yes,” she agreed.

“Remember, if you need to surface give me the sign.”

She nodded and then they both ducked under the cold waves. Sakura held her breath carefully as she flexed her fingers in careful signs as they sunk beneath the lazy waves. Her chakra rose through her lungs to pool around her mouth. Now for the nerve-wracking part.

Sakura opened her mouth against every instinct and inhaled. 

The fishers had taught her the jutsu on the waves of the ocean while they hunted for the stake-out and Sakura had practiced it only once or twice to make sure she had it in case she’d ever sunk or been knocked in the water, but that had involved nothing more than pressing her mouth to the water. To be fully submerged now was a different test. Sakura pushed down the instinctive panic at breathing with the pressure of water everywhere and inhaled gently.

Her chakra did its job, stripping oxygen out of the water around her mouth and pulling it in. It had an odd taste.

Haku was watching her with a smile, a bubble of air apparent around his lips. He waved her forwards and dove further, pushing away from the rocks towards the darker depths. Sakura followed, swimming as quickly as she could. She was very careful to keep her chakra regulated, to keep her breathing even. The trick was to breath slowly and evenly which was much harder than it sounded when the water was tight against you. 

The water stung her eyes and she squinted them, Haku’s nearly glowing white yukata visible even as they dove deeper and deeper, ducking away from the shore. Haku led her down and down and down. Sakura followed, watching fish dart away from them. The pressure grew, as did the darkness and Haku slowed down enough for her to stay close. They were near the channel Sakura could tell from the currents. 

They were soon next to large dark rocks covered in shells. Haku smiled at her again and waved at them. Sakura eyed them and tried to discern if any looked better than the others. She couldn’t be sure. Haku was already harvesting some of the oysters and so she followed suit. They were large and she only had so much arm space to carry them. A fish darted by, mouthing at her hair.

Sakura saw the shark before Haku and resisted the urge to yelp. She waved at Haku frantically and he turned to look. The thing wasn’t very big for a shark but it was the size of Sakura. Sakura watched with a leery disbelief as the shark came close enough for Haku to touch and the older boy simply reached out and pushed it’s snout away. It swam off and Sakura stared. Haku gave her a smile and pointed up. She nodded as quickly as she could in the water.

When they surfaced Sakura sucked in a greedy breath. She hadn’t been hurting for air but there was a difference between the jutsu and taking a nice deep breath. 

“No trouble with the jutsu?” Haku asked her kindly, tucking a strand of wet hair behind his ear. 

Sakura resisted the urge to stare at him. How the hell did he manage to make soaking wet and carrying an armful of nasty looking oysters look so damn pretty?

“No,” she answered belatedly. 

Zabuza was waiting for them on the shore and they joined him. He eyed their haul.

“You’ll have to go back,” he grunted nudging a pail forward.

“It would be no trouble. Kurogane has the jutsu down and I enjoy the water,” Haku said.

Sakura who was already shivering wondered if he was cold blooded. Zabuza seemed to agree if his suspicious look was anything to go by. He threw her Haori at her face and she quickly wrapped it around herself even as she sat in the sand and grabbed a kunai. Her and Haku pried the oysters open. The first one went down raw and Sakura smacked her lips, unsure if she’d liked the grit of sand mixed with the taste. 

“If you don’t want to eat them raw, I’ll keep them cold and we can cook them later,” Haku told her handing Zabuza his own shucked oysters.

She watched Zabuza toss the oyster back and wrinkled her nose. The buck froze under her watching eyes and she tossed her own in there. It only took a few minutes to pry open her armful. 

“You’re going back in,” Zabuza declared.

Sakura followed Haku back in. 

It took nearly eight trips to find what they wanted and by the end Sakura was shaking she was shivering so bad. Zabuza had started a fire though after the third dunk and she curled up close to it.

“Oh,” she said as she shucked her second to last oyster of the eighth dive. 

The pearl she pulled from the oyster was small but iridescent and tinted, ironically enough, pink. 

“Well, it’s your lucky day,” Zabuza said, “It took me eleven dives to find my first pearl.”

Haku who had found his on the sixth haul looked up and smiled at her. His pearl had come out a tad whiter than hers which she knew meant it was worth more. Sakura looked at the nearly perfectly found little pink gem and rolled it across her water-wrinkled hand. 

“Let’s go trade these for some lunch,” Zabuza grunted standing and nodding towards the heaping pail of shucked oysters.

“We can go to the bathhouse after,” Haku said, “To warm up.”

Sakura stood, pulling her haori tight around herself even though it was fully damp now. She clenched her pearl in her hand and followed the two back towards the city and away from one of their many beaches. 

“Every kiri nin does this when they graduate from the academy,” Haku told Sakura on their walk back, “I never saw Kiri proper nor studied at their academy, so I never had the chance, but Zabuza told me about it.”

Sakura still had not heard Haku’s whole story but she’d pieced enough together to know a child with a bloodline in Kiri must have been in grave danger. And to end up learning under Momichi Zabuza while he was on the run, well, she assumed Haku was lucky to be alive. 

She wondered faintly as they returned to the city what it meant that she had been given a kiri shinobi tradition.

After they had traded their shucked raw oysters for curry buns fried perfectly crispy filled with oyster curry, they meandered towards the bathhouse. Zabuza left them there to go join Mei at the tower and Haku requested a private onsen for them. Sakura had been to this bathhouse a few times now, at the center of the city and knew that at one point it had catered only to the high caste and elite. It was too fancy and too large to be anything else. They were led to a small private pool, divided from the rest by sheaves of rock instead of wooden fences like Konoha. 

Sakura undressed quickly, wrapping a towel around herself and then practically throwing herself into the beautifully hot water. Haku chuckled lowly at her and followed more sedately. Sakura who had been bunking with Zabuza and Haku for months upon months now, first at Gatos and then on the road and then in a cave and finally in Kiri had seen all of the both of them more than once. Not on purpose but mostly do to the fact they were both obviously used to one another and saw no reason for privacy. 

And Sakura who had been covered in mud and blood and scared out of her mind, had had far more concerns than Haku or Zabuza or being a little more exposed. She had issues with being naked around people still, especially men and preferred to be wearing layers; but she also trusted Haku and Zabuza in that regard now. 

She was comfortable enough that when Haku offered to wash her back she thought nothing of giving him her naked back. She rolled her pearl in her hands as he scrubbed her skin, rubbing away the sticky salt water. 

“What will you do with it?” Haku asked her.

“What do people usually do?” she asked.

“Hmmm. Zabuza said most of the lower castes sold theirs. It often helped pay for their first mission kit. I assume some who didn’t need the money kept them.”

“What will you with yours?” Sakura asked. 

Haku hummed again but didn’t answer and Sakura let him have his silence. She turned to help him wash his hair, marvelling at how silky and smooth it was. By the time they left the bath Sakura was relaxed and soothed enough she was nearly meditating and thus had forgot the question. 

“Here,” Haku said folding his hand in hers.

Sakura took it automatically and looked down at her hand to find a white pearl sitting in it.

“What?” she asked blankly.

“I want you to have it. So you have a set,” he smiled at her, “Maybe you can make a set of earrings.”

“But…” she faltered.

He just smiled at her, soft and kind and achingly pretty. He reached out, slow and careful and brushed his hand against her cheek. Inanely she noted despite just leaving the hot onsen, his skin was still cool to the touch. He was taller than her even though she knew he hadn’t yet had his last growth spurt if she was judging right. His hair fell like a curtain around them as he leaned just a bit closer as if to close the world off. 

“We will miss you,” he murmured to her.

“I…” Sakura swallowed clutching the pearls together reflexively. 

She tried to get the words out but found her throat closed up. Haku seemed to understand anyways as he leaned over and brushed his lisp across her forehead.

“You will always be my friend Sakura,” he told her, her name shuddering through her, “No matter what the future brings. Thank you for everything.”

Sakura felt frozen in place, locked up and still. Haku just smiled so kindly.

.--.

Sakura stared at the scroll in front of her and for the life of her couldn’t remember what she had just read. Her eyes darted up but Mei was still head bowed and deep in conversation with a whole circle of men and women. Sakura, tucked in the far office corner, couldn’t quite hear them past the muffling seal on the desk. Instead she watched their faces, took in the tension and the anger and the sneers. She also saw there was shrugs and huffs and even one or two quick glances at her. 

The fact that they glanced at her at all told Sakura exactly what they were discussing; Konoha. 

Sakura looked down at her scroll to dodge another glance and resisted the urge to fidget. By the time they had broken their meeting and everyone was darting away the sun had sunk. Haku sat beside her now but hadn’t offered to take her home like he usually did. Instead they had both watched Zabuza’s back for tells as he seemed to watch everyone else. 

The muffling seal was lifted as the last ninja darted away leaving Mei and Ao and Zabuza the only ones sitting. 

“I hate politics,” Zabuza said shortly, eyes tight. 

“That’s why I’m Mizukage,” Mei said.

Mei looked down at a scroll she had been filling out and there was a long moment of quiet.

“Mei-sama,” Sakura finally said aloud when it got to be too much.

Everyone looked over at her but she did not shrink away. 

“Am I being ransomed?” Sakura finally asked.

There was a moment of hesitation.

“No,” Mei finally said, “Some wanted too but we agreed in the end it was unlikely Konoha would give us anything for a lost genin whose name we don’t even know.”

She gave Sakura a pointed look but Sakura had kept it locked down for so long now. Mei didn’t look disappointed when there was no reply at least. She’d also brought up a worry that Sakura had been holding close; would Konoha take her back? She was just a genin, a clanless one just out of the academy kept in enemy territory.

“Did Konoha say whether…” Sakura struggled.

“The Godaime said nothing about you,” Mei said not unkindly, “But the fact she is sending your old sensei must count for something.”

“Her,” Sakura’s mind stalled, “Godaime?”

They all looked to her. Then Mei cut a gaze across Zabuza.

“Did you not tell her?” Mei asked, narrowed eyed.

“Wasn’t important,” Zabuza grunted.

Sakura stared at him and he shrugged back at her.

“Kurogane, the Sandaime passed away two months ago during an invasion,” Mei said slowly, “During the chunin exams Orochimaru of Sound invaded with Suna and they fought. A month later Senju Tsunade was inaugurated as the Godaime Hokage.”

Sakura stared at Mei with something like shock. She couldn’t wrap her head around….

“Senju Tsunade,” Sakura said and her voice cracked.

Mei gave her a curious look.

“Yes. Someone convinced her to take the post.”

Sakura tried to calculate it in her head. They would have been reaching the cave and coup three months ago, a month right before the chunin exams had started. So the invasion of Konoha would have happened at nearly the same time as the coup. Which meant Tsunade had been inured at Hokage almost the same time as Mei, weeks ago. 

Which meant Tsunade who had turned her away on the road, who had left a Konoha genin in Kiri hands because she couldn’t be assed to take her home, had only three months later turned around and returned to Konoha. And knew where Sakura was; she must have heard of the coup even before getting a scroll for Kiri. 

Something in Sakura burned like rage. Like betrayal. What a fucking joke. 

Zabuza was watching her and his gaze said he knew exactly what she was thinking. Sakura gazed back and thought about what she would do if Tsunade the Godaime did not take her back. There was no way the woman did not know who the team she was sending would be retrieving. There was no way she didn’t know it was the little girl she’d turned away in her hour of need. 

Sakura thought that if Tsunade didn’t take her back after all of this she might do something rash like declare for Kiri. Zabuza would let her stay.

Mei looked between them but shrugged it away, turning back to her negotiations. Haku reached up and rested a hand against the back of Sakura’s neck, right over the collar. The silent support grounded Sakura as she tried not to be angry-scared about her future. 

.--.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sakura wouldn't have known about the Godaime's or death of the Sandaime. But hearing it is also another stab in the gut because of what it means. I liked Tsunade as a character but she wasn't a good person (none of the sanin where). She got better but thats growth. 
> 
> I have no idea what the real Kiri timeline was in canon but my thought was the coup happened near the time of the Konoha chunin exam. We don't hear much about Mei before then but it gives her time to consolidate her power before the Kage summit where we see her in the future. 
> 
> So just some more timeline/politics stuff and some bonding.


	14. Let the Tide Push you back to Shore

“It’s time Brat,” Zabuza announced.

Sakura blinked up at him from where she was sharpening her knife. Haku sat next to her working on his own senbon, the faint rays of light filtering through the clouds. 

“Time?” Sakura asked. 

“Got your shit packed?”

Sakura swallowed as she realized abruptly what he meant. She raised a hand to touch the tiny sealing scroll against her breast. Her peals, the bingo-book, her oil-slick coat and bedroll, and a few scrolls Mei had allowed her to keep rested inside. It was all she had.

Haku’s senbon vanished back into his kimono as he looked at them. Sakura took her time wiping her blade clean and sheathing it before tucking the sharpening stone away. When she was finished she went to stand but Zabuza swooped in and lifted her up like he had when she wasn’t supposed to walk. She didn’t protest and clung to him instead, going as far as to lean her head against his shoulder. He didn’t even grumble at her. 

He also took his time on the walk to the tower, weaving through the streets. Sakura sort of felt like she was being led to her execution. At the base of the Mizukage tower Haku stopped and bowed his head. Sakura turned and pressed her face into Zabuza’s shoulder. Still he did not grumble. The stairs were smooth under his gait and Sakura kept harsh control on her breathing as they rose and rose and rose. 

Finally they were pushing their way into the Mizukage’s office. Sakura didn’t dare look.

“Hatake,” Zabuza sneered, something ugly in his voice.

Sakura took a deep breath and turned to look. Because Kakashi-sensei? If it was him…

Hatake Kakashi stood straight with a team behind him, all adults, face like stone even under his mask, eye narrowed. No Team Seven in sight and for a moment Sakura felt an ache. 

“Zabuza,” Kakashi-sensei said flatly, “I think you have something of mine.”

Sakura breathed evenly through her nose. Kakashi-sensei wasn’t looking at her; instead he was looking straight at Zabuza, face hard. 

“Not yours anymore,” Zabuza said, “You can’t blame man for taking something so carelessly dropped and left behind.”

“Left behind?” Kakashi asked, and his voice was wreathed with violence.

Zabuza bared his teeth, taunting and mean all at once as Sakura dug her fingers into his shoulder. 

“Zabuza, stop baiting the Konoha-nin,” Mei said lightly, interrupting “They’re here to organize a treaty, not start a war.”

Zabuza huffed silently and gave Kakashi-sensei a mean smirk, edging around the group to join Mei. 

The woman on the team took front and started to talk with Mei. Sakura listened with half an ear as the bare bones of a neutrality pact were laid out. It was mainly a bit of a formal meeting where they introduced what would be pounded out over the next few days. Sakura kept her gaze away from the Konoha team. 

When it was finally finished Mei rose, smooth and graceful, the Konoha team following suit. She thanked the woman prettily and then her gaze turned to Kakashi-sensei. Sakura recognized the aggressive slant of her shoulders beyond the polite posture. She’d been around enough to see Mei was looking at his throat behind the demur facade

“Hand Kurogane over to her sensei, Zabuza,” Mei commanded, voice firm. 

Zabuza’s hand tightened on Sakura and Sakura tightened her grip momentarily before letting it loosen. Mei didn’t look at them but they could feel her attention. This was a test somehow. 

Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei had a stare down, neither moving an inch. Sakura knew she needed to be the breaking point; knew it was up to her, or Zabuza would not do a single thing, Mei’s order or no. 

“Let me down,” Sakura said lowly, just enough for everyone to hear.

His grip tightened again and she nudged his shoulder. He turned his glare on her, something like anger in his eyes, though she knew without a doubt it was not directed at her. 

“Don’t order me around, Brat,” Zabuza growled.

“Oh fuck off Zabuza,” she sighed, already tired of the show, “Put me down.”

And Zabuza did, careful of her still bandaged ankle. It was getting better, the sprain, but it was still tender. Her stitches were nearly completely healed now and she was fighting ready. But she knew he was being careful

“Let’s give them a moment,” Mei said, a sort of cheerful manic tone to it.

“Give them a moment?” Zabuza hissed, “In the Kage’s office?”

“Not like there is anything important in here after we stripped it,” Mei said cheerfully, “Come on.”

Sakura heard the unspoken argument between them. The Mizukage’s office was layered in seals, protective and otherwise. Any chakra used in here would register and feed to security. And Sakura would eat her own collar if there were not listening seals and spy seals placed everywhere. They would be leaving but she’d be damned if they wouldn’t be watching. Sakura nodded. It was a test for the Konoha team and Sakura didn’t mind being the bait.

Let them see what the team was really here for; how they would treat Sakura out of sight. 

Zabuza shot them all nasty glares and for a long moment hovered at Sakura’s shoulder as if trying to bolster her. And then he stomped off after his Kage. The door clicking shut behind them was loud in the silence left behind. 

In the silence no one moved as Kakashi-sensei stared at her like stone. She couldn’t get a single read on him. 

“Hello, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura finally said, cautiously. 

She met his gaze head on, knowing her shoulders were hunched and her chin bowed. But she hadn’t broke the habit of looking people dead on that Zabuza had instilled in her. She resisted the urge to clench her hem in her hands 

“Sakura,” Kakashi-sensei said and there was something careful about the way he said it.

Then the man in green (outrageous green leotards and a bowl cut and what the hell was with those eyebrows?!) gave Kakashi-sensei an actual physical shove. Kakashi-sensei hit his knees in front of her and the stone look fell away to something more careful. 

“Can…can I have a hug?” Kakashi-sensei asked slowly like he expected rejection.

Of all the things she had expected, all the questions shed been ready for, all the reactions she’d awaited, this was unexpected. She had thought she’d get sharp quick questions, or maybe even a completely dismissive head pat like he had absently done when she was on the team. Maybe she had thought she’d be ignored or told to fuck off. Sakura swallowed hard because this was not what she’d been prepared for but maybe…maybe it was what she needed. She opened her arms wordlessly, desperately. 

Kakashi-sensei curled over her and it didn’t even make her upset, didn’t scare her the slightest. Her heart barely picked up at all. Sakura dug her hands into his flak vest, pressed against him and it was as if a dam had burst. Her breath hitched and her eyes grew hot. She refused to let anything like fucking tears fall but she allowed her breath to hitch in silent sobs. He hugged her back just as desperately, holding her tight and Sakura clung to him.

“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura managed, wordless beyond that.

“Sakura,” he said softly, “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

She was trembling, shaking apart under her skin. She’d been so fucking scared, so fucking terrified and angry that maybe she would not be welcomed. That Kakashi-sensei would look at her and let her go because she wasn’t the same Haruno Sakura he’d had under his care. That he would look at her and find her wanting. She had been so fucking terrified he would turn away from her and she would not be Sakura anymore. 

“You came for me?” she managed when he leaned back.

“Of course,” Kakashi-sensei said, “As soon as I heard you were here.”

She looked past him as if trying to look away from the rays of hope. The green man stepped forward, teeth flashing in a wide wide wide grin as he put a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder.

“Your most youthful sensei practically started running the moment he heard you were alive!” the man nearly bellowed, “We had to hold him down until a team was ready.”

Sakura stared and stared and stared as this man beamed at her with honesty. She didn’t dare look back at Kakashi-sensei and whatever his expression was. He’d come for her. He’d come for her at a run with no hesitation. 

The woman stepped forward next, crouching as if to make Sakura comfortable. Maybe she didn’t realize no one did that, they just loomed and Sakura used it to kick them where it hurt when she needed to. 

“My name is Yugao,” she said, tone calm and steady, “I have some slight medic training if you would allow me to look at your injuries.”

Sakura supposed the bandages and cast were not in any way unsubtle.

“They’ve been treated,” Sakura told her, trying to get across the fact she had been looked after, “I got my arm broken and lots of scrapes, but they gave me stitches and a cast. The most annoying thing is my ankle, it’s sprained.”

“I can heal a sprained ankle,” Yugao offered, “and make sure everything is as well looked after as you say.”

Sakura finally looked back at Kakashi-sensei, because this was his team. He nodded and so she let the woman come close and put hands on her. Her hair was a dusty purple and very pretty. Sakura looked at it and thought of Purple and how dark her hair was compared to this woman’s. 

“You have stitches on the bottom of your feet,” Yugao said gently and Kakashi winced in sympathy.

“I fell on a spike trap,” Sakura said knowing there were mainly just scars now, “It ripped up my feet pretty bad. They stitched them all shut and gave me a balm that helps numb the pain when I stand. They’re mostly healed now anyways.”

You had to be open with medics; they’d know if you weren’t anyways. Besides. It was behind her. Best be upfront now. 

“I can do a bit for that,” Yugao said.

She lingered over Sakura’s ankle for a long few minutes in silence and Sakura felt her chakra sparking against her own. When she let go Sakura tested by rocking on her heels. Even the slivers of pain were gone.

“Thank you,” Sakura said quietly.

She took a deep breath and held herself still before asking the most important question.

“Are we going home now?”

“We…” Kakashi-sensei paused.

Sakura felt a jolt of horror go up her spine. Here it was. He was going to say she wasn’t coming. 

“We must stay for a week,” the woman spoke for him, calmly meeting Sakura’s gaze even as Sakura didn’t dare breath, “Maybe even more. We got into Kiri by opening diplomatic channels and they must be fulfilled before we leave.”

Sakura nodded slowly trying not to show she was breaking apart.

“You may stay with us,” Yugao continued, “We will protect you while we linger.”

Sakura stared at them all as her heart stuttered, even darting a glance at the last silent man behind them as if to try and see deception.

“I don’t mind staying for a bit,” Sakura said and she was proud of how even it was. 

Her question still had not be answered and she needed an answer desperately. 

“I just…promise we’ll go home after?”

“Sakura,” Kakashi-sensei said, reaching for her hands, “I promise I will see you back to Konoha if it’s the last thing I do.”

Sakura nearly broke. She nearly shattered apart as she got confirmation. She was going to be leaving Kiri, she was going to be going back to Konoha; back to team Seven, back to Ino, back to her pare- no don’t think about it or she really would shatter. 

“Not the last thing,” Sakura protested feebly. 

He gave her a look she couldn’t decipher as there was a knock at the door. 

“Hello,” Choujuro greeted them, “I’ve been sent to show you to your quarters.”

Kakashi-sensei stood but kept Sakura’s hands in his and she suddenly realized even when being healed he hadn’t let her go. She tugged lightly, not pulling away but letting him know she needed her hands. 

“A place to stay would be very much appreciated!” Green yelled for all of them.

“You okay Kurogane?” Choujuro asked her instead of commenting.

“I’m okay,” Sakura said trying to offer the friendly boy a smile. 

He was a nice guy and Sakura had had a few friendly conversations with him. He was also one of Mei’s favourite gophers (which he was too strong and skilled to be but did so without complaint). Sakura took the lead seeing as no one was moving. She stepped out after him and cast a glance back at the team to try and convey it was safe to move. She led the way with Choujuro and ignored the eyes on her.

Choujuro showed them the little apartment rigged for them that Sakura had never visited but knew was Jonin Barracks. The team would be watched 24/7. Choujuro showed them around the tiny place, laid out the rules and then nodded to Sakura as he left. 

Sakura watched the team move in to look at the place. Kakashi-sensei didn’t leave her side at the threshold. 

“Stay with us,” Kakashi-sensei said very softly.

Sakura looked up at him, not bothering to look at the others. They were strangers – only Yugao had even given her a name. 

“No,” Sakura said rather easily, not even bothering to try and make it sound nicer, “Thank you though.”

Kakashi-sensei was still again. That unnatural still that didn’t even look like he was breathing. Green crouched beside him to look at Sakura better. 

“Are you safe?” he asked

“I am,” Sakura nodded, “I’m happy you came Kakashi-sensei and I’m glad we will go home. But I don’t…”

Her eyes darted across his teammates. They were strangers. Large strangers that all had to be ANBU. Sakura had not had the greatest time with strangers and when it was still up in the air what she meant to her home village…well. Sakura wouldn’t stay with them. Not yet. She was still in Kiri and she still wore her collar for now. She knew where she belonged. 

“Please thank Yugao for healing my feet,” Sakura bowed, “I will see you tomorrow.”

She left them there without a backwards glance, heading for the exit. As she rounded a corner a door was open and a very familiar woman stood in the frame, leaned against it with her arms and legs crossed. Purple gave Sakura a very serious nod, something respectful in it. 

“Don’t let those Leaves push you about,” she said, voice like gravel, “Don’t show them what you want.”

Don’t show them how desperate you are. Sakura swallowed nodding. She knew how much desires and weakness could be used against you. Acting scared had its place, but so to did acting like nothing was wrong. 

“Thank you,” Sakura told the woman, heartfelt because she deserved it.

Purple dipped her head in a nod and shut her door. Sakura continued outside until she found Zabuza across from the entrance, standing in the shadows and glowering so hard people were turning around and walking the other way instead of passing him by. 

“Not going to stay with them, Brat?” he snapped.

Sakura reached up and tugged at her collar in a silent answer. His arms uncrossed. They walked away in silence.

.--.

**Author's Note:**

> And so Sakura is not reunited with team Seven, nor does Zabuza let her go and try and die to return to Konoha. And she would die if she tried as malnourished and exhausted as she is. In my imagining, Fire Country is huge and has large swaths of untamed wildness. Even if they got survival training in the Academy, the wild is nothing to underestimate. In real life, even trained professionals have a hard time in the wilderness. 
> 
> I imagine a world like Naruto, where their are bandits and missing nin and previous wars that would have turned areas into death traps, are all very real dangers, let alone things like bears and cougars and wolves. And Konoha is a hidden village, they wouldn't have lots of marked roads into their city. They'd have a few major paths but those bring dangers of strangers and missing-nin and bandits waiting for merchants who travel these paths. My idea is that Konoha-nin don't often take the road since its windy and slow and instead cut through the trees on paths they learn as they take more missions. 
> 
> All in all, Naruto world should be far more dangerous than it's made out to be in the manga, and a small traumatized girl making her way back on a long journey through the terrain with no supplies (even if shes a trained ninja, and not really a good one at that) would be a near death sentence. All it takes is some bad water drank from a stream to make her ill and kill her in such a state.


End file.
